The Venezuelan government said on Saturday that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia had gone into hiding after challenging President Nicolas Maduro controversial re-election — left the country and applied for asylum in Spain.

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

The opposition could not be immediately reached for comment.

Venezuela has been in political crisis since authorities declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 elections. The opposition cried foul, claiming it had evidence that González won by a comfortable margin.

Numerous nations, including the United Statesthe European Union and several Latin American countries refused to recognize Maduro as the winner without Caracas publishing detailed election results.

After the election, Venezuelan prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for González because he insisted he was the legitimate winner.

Before leaving the country, he had been in hiding for a month and ignored three consecutive summonses to appear before the public prosecutor.

Post-election violence In Venezuela, 27 people were killed and 192 were injured. The government says it has arrested around 2,400 people.