Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado easily won Sunday’s presidential primary contest with 93% of the vote, the latest tally showed on Wednesday, though questions about her eventual candidacy persist.
After tallying 91.3% of ballot boxes, the National Primary Commission declared the results conclusive. Former lawmaker Carlos Prosperi – Machado’s nearest rival to challenge President Nicolas Maduro – won just 4%, the count showed.
Machado had already asserted her victory after an initial count of about a quarter of the ballots showed she was heading for a landslide win in the ballot to pick a unified opposition candidate to run against Maduro.
The Socialist president, in power for a decade, is expected to run for re-election in a presidential election due next year.