By Lisandra Paraguassu
BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden will speak on Tuesday in a phone call that Brazilian sources said will focus on the contested Venezuelan presidential election.
The call will be held at 2:30 p.m. ET (1830 GMT), according to both the White House and the Brazilian government, which did not provide the topics to be discussed.
According to the Brazilian sources, the call was scheduled at the request of the U.S. government as it seeks Brazil’s assessment of the election results in neighboring Venezuela.
Venezuela’s national electoral authority proclaimed incumbent President Nicolas Maduro winner of the weekend vote, giving him a third term in office, but the opposition has also claimed victory.
Independent pollsters called Maduro’s win implausible, as opposition leaders and foreign observers urged vote tallies to be released.
Brazil’s government on Monday hailed what it called a “peaceful” election day in Venezuela and said it was closely monitoring the vote count, waiting for electoral authorities to release vote tallies to ensure the legitimacy of results.
The Biden administration, meanwhile, said that electoral manipulation had stripped Maduro’s claim of reelection victory of “any credibility,” and Washington left the door open to fresh sanctions on the OPEC nation.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; writing by Luana Maria Benedito; editing by Gabriel Araujo)
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