Biden and Lula urge Venezuelan authorities to release detailed presidential election voting data

CARACAS (AP) — President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Tuesday called on Venezuela’s government to release detailed voting data from the presidential election.

Electoral authorities have said President Nicolás Maduro won, but the opposition says their candidate, Edmundo González, secured more than twice as many votes in Sunday’s election. In a joint statement after a call in which Venezuela’s election was discussed, Biden and Maduro ally Lula said they “agreed on the need for immediate release of full, transparent, and detailed voting data at the polling station level by the Venezuelan electoral authorities.

Both presidents said the outcome “represents a critical moment for democracy in the hemisphere.” Criticism of Maduro has mounted since electoral authorities declared him the winner Monday.

Thousands of ardent opposition supporters gathered outside the United Nations’ offices in the capital, Caracas, to mark what they say was an electoral victory by opposition candidate Edmundo González. Maduro’s allies meanwhile appeared on television to accuse opposition leaders of being fascists.