CARACAS – Five months after Delcy Rodríguez took office as Venezuela’s interim president following a U.S. military intervention that removed longtime leader Nicolás Maduro from power, former opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González has publicly called for the immediate organization of fully free and credible national presidential elections.
The 76-year-old former diplomat, who first entered the national political spotlight as a last-minute replacement for barred opposition leader María Corina Machado in the July 2024 presidential vote, was formally recognized as the legitimate election winner by multiple sovereign nations. The opposition contested the official results of the 2024 vote, leveling widespread allegations of electoral fraud, while independent international observers have verified that unsealed electoral records confirm González won a majority of votes against Maduro.
In a public statement shared across major social media platforms Saturday, González argued that the current moment demands urgent action to lay the groundwork for new presidential elections that give Venezuelan citizens a direct voice in shaping the country’s future. He stressed that such a vote would act as a critical catalyst for restoring stable democratic institutions and establishing a functional, long-term national government.
González laid out non-negotiable preconditions for any legitimate electoral process: the vote must be overseen by independent electoral regulators, include both national and independent international observation missions, guarantee participation for all political factions, release all citizens detained for political reasons, and put a permanent end to targeted political persecution of opposition figures.
The former candidate framed himself as the committed guardian of the 2024 electoral mandate, through which Venezuelan voters chose freedom for their nation. Since September 2024, González has lived in exile in Spain, after Maduro’s ousted administration issued an arrest warrant accusing him of conspiracy, falsification of public documents and usurpation of power – all charges he has repeatedly and emphatically denied.
González’s call for new elections comes just days before the five-month anniversary of Rodríguez assuming the interim presidency on January 5. Rodríguez, who was once a political ally of Maduro, took power after Maduro and his wife were arrested and transported to the U.S. to face ongoing criminal prosecution. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump formally recognized Rodríguez as Venezuela’s only legitimate head of state, and since her appointment, the two nations have made significant progress on a range of bilateral agreements. These include the full lifting of longstanding U.S. economic sanctions, new negotiations on expanded cooperation in the oil and energy sectors, and the full normalization of diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington.
U.S. recognition of Rodríguez has allowed her administration to reconnect with major Western financial institutions and open the country back up to U.S. investors. As of yet, neither the Venezuelan interim government nor U.S. officials have signaled that new presidential elections will be held in the near future.
Machado, the original opposition candidate who was barred from running in 2024, recently gathered with other prominent opposition leaders in Panama to push for a full democratic transition in Venezuela. She has publicly confirmed her plan to return to Venezuela before the end of 2025 to run in the presidential election González is calling for.