Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who contested President Nicolas Maduro’s July 28 claimed re-election,  has left for Spain aboard a Spanish military aircraft.

“Edmundo Gonzalez, at his request, is flying to Spain on a Spanish Air Force plane,” Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on social media, adding Spain was “committed to the political rights” of all Venezuelans.

The Venezuelan government also said on Saturday that Mr Gonzalez Urrutia – in hiding after he challenged President Maduro’s disputed re-election – had left the country, seeking asylum in Spain.

“After taking refuge voluntarily at the Spanish embassy in Caracas a few days ago, (Mr Gonzalez Urrutia) asked the Spanish government for political asylum,” Venezuela’s vice president said on social media, adding that Caracas had agreed to his safe passage.

A lawyer for Mr Gonzalez Urrutia confirmed to AFP the opposition candidate had departed for Spain.

Venezuela has been in a political crisis since authorities declared Mr Maduro the victor of the July 28 election. The opposition cried foul, claiming it had evidence Mr Gonzalez Urrutia had won by a comfortable margin.

Numerous nations, including the United States, European Union and several Latin American countries, have refused to recognise Mr Maduro as the winner without Caracas releasing detailed voting data.

After the election, Venezuelan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Mr Gonzalez Urrutia over his insistence that he was the rightful winner of the election.

Prior to leaving the country, he had been in hiding for a month, ignoring three successive summons to appear before prosecutors.

He had said that attending the hearing could have cost his freedom.

Post-election violence in Venezuela has claimed 27 lives and left 192 people injured, while the government says it has arrested about 2,400 people.

Authorities said Mr Maduro had won re-election to a third, six-year term with 52 per cent of the vote. The opposition published its own voting records, which it says showed Mr Gonzalez Urrutia winning 67 per cent of the vote.

Venezuela’s electoral authority has said it cannot provide a full breakdown of the July 28 election results, blaming a cyber attack on its systems.

Observers have said there is no evidence of any such hacking.

Lawyer Joel Garcia, who has defended opposition figures in Venezuela, said if Mr Gonzalez Urrutia was charged with everything the government has accused him of, he could face a jail sentence of 30 years.

Prior to the election, Mr Gonzalez Urrutia was a little-known retired diplomat.

He became the last-minute presidential candidate after the main opposition figure was banned from running by state institutions seen as loyal to Mr Maduro.

After Venezuela’s last election, in 2018, Mr Maduro was proclaimed winner amid widespread accusations of fraud.

He has led the oil-rich but cash-poor country since 2013.

His tenure, which has suffered from domestic economic mismanagement as well as international sanctions, has seen GDP drop 80 per cent and more than seven million of the country’s 30 million citizens emigrate.