Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez left for Spain overnight and was seeking asylum, officials said on Sunday, amid a mounting political and diplomatic crisis over the disputed results of July’s election.

A plane carrying Gonzalez — who has challenged President Nicolas Maduro’s declaration of victory — had stopped off in Portugal’s Azores islands and was expected in Spain in the coming hours, Spanish media reported.

The dramatic exit of the 75-year-old —…