Protests in Venezuela after opposition rejects Maduro's claim of election victory

Riots gripped several cities in Venezuela including the capital Caracas after presidential elections were contested by the opposition coalition running against President Nicolas Maduro.

Vote counting ended on Monday with sharply opposing interpretations of the result, with the opposition claiming to have secured 70 per cent of the votes. The central election authority, which government critics say is controlled by loyalists to Mr Maduro, claimed the incumbent won with 51 per cent of the vote, to the opposition’s 44 per cent.

Thousands of protesters in Caracas were met with riot police who fired tear gas and rubber bullets, AFP reported. Some protesters were seen throwing rocks at the police. The opposition claimed that the central election authority had interfered with vote counting in 30,000 polling centres.

While the election result has drawn accusations of rigging from the US, UK and Europe, the poll has also been widely rejected across Latin America, including from left-leaning governments in Chile and Colombia, who might otherwise be sympathetic to Mr Maduro’s hard-left government.

For over a decade, Venezuela’s economy has suffered sharp contractions which experts put down to policy and corruption, leading to the mass migration of about 7.7 million people.

Under Mr Maduro, who took over from Hugo Chavez on his death in 2013, Venezuela has become increasingly isolated in the continent, threatening military confrontation with Colombia. The nation is seen by the Chilean and Argentine governments as a threat to security in the region.

“We want freedom. We want Maduro to go. Maduro, leave,” Marina Sugey, 42, of the Petare area of Caracas, told AFP.

On Monday, the National Electoral Council certified Mr Maduro's re-election for a third six-year term until 2031.

He dismissed international criticism and doubts about the result of Sunday's voting, claiming Venezuela was the target of an attempted “coup d'etat” of a “fascist and counter-revolutionary” nature.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said that a review of available voting records showed that the next president “will be Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia,” who took her place on the ballot after she was barred by Maduro-aligned courts.