CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuelas opposition claimed victory in Sundays presidential election, setting up a showdown with the government, which earlier declared President Nicols Maduro the winner.

The Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened, opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzlez said in his first remarks.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the margin of Gonzlezs victory was overwhelming based on voting tallies it had received from campaign representatives from about 40% of ballot boxes nationwide.

The National Electoral Council, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, earlier said Maduro had secured 51% of the vote to 44% for Gonzlez. But it didnt release the tallies from each of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, promising only to do so in the coming hours, hampering the ability to verify the results.

Foreign leaders held off recognizing the results.

The Maduro regime should understand that the results it published are difficult to believe, said Gabriel Boric, the leftist leader of Chile. We wont recognize any result that is not verifiable.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people, speaking in Tokyo.