The Venezuelan attorney general, a close ally of President Nicolás Maduro, has announced he is investigating opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González for alleged "incitement to insurrection", Paralel.Az reports citing BBC.

The opposition leaders had earlier called on the security forces to "side with the people" and ignore any orders to repress the anti-government protests.

Tension has been running high since the electoral authority, which is closely aligned with the government, declared Maduro the winner without making detailed voting tallies public.

The opposition has uploaded copies of the voting tallies as evidence that it was González and not President Maduro who won the election.

On Sunday, the Washington Post said it had reviewed more than 23,000 of the tally sheets collected by the opposition - which amounts to 80% of voting machines across Venezuela.

The Post concluded that González had "likely received more than twice as many votes as President Nicolás Maduro".

On Monday, the opposition published a statement on X stating that González had won 67% of the vote compared to Maduro's 30%.

The statement, signed by both González and Machado, said the opposition had achieved an "overwhelming victory".

It is at odds with the result announced by the government-dominated CNE, which declared Maduro the winner with 52% of the vote against 43% for González.

The opposition statement elicited an immediate response from Attorney General Tarek William Saab, who accused the pair of "falsely announcing an election winner different to the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council (CNE)".

He said the statement also "openly incited officials from the police and military to disobey the laws".

Saab added that he had decided to open a criminal investigation against both opposition leaders.