Maduro wins Venezuela presidential election

Nicolas Maduro has won a narrow victory in Venezuela’s presidential poll.

Mr Maduro won 50.7% of the vote against 49.1% for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.

The electoral commission said the results were “irreversible”.

The waiting was long and tense. Rumours on Twitter were growing. Both sides were cautious, but fireworks were going off all around the city.

Even in front of the Miraflores presidential palace there was uncertainty. People started gathering early on in the night, but they listened to radios to keep across the official results.

The National Electoral Council’s announcement was broadcast through loudspeakers among the crowd, but people didn’t wait to hear the margin by which Nicolas Maduro had won.

Screaming and chanting took over. Beer was thrown into the air. People hugged each other. Nobody seemed to mind if the victory was narrow. “This victory is dedicated to Hugo Chavez, our commander. My vote went to him,” said one woman.

Addressing jubilant crowds outside the presidential palace in Caracas, Mr Maduro said his victory had been “just, legal and constitutional”.

The president-elect, wearing the colours of the Venezuelan flag, said the result showed Hugo Chavez “continues to be invincible, that he continues to win battles”.

Celebrations erupted, with Mr Maduro’s supporters setting off fireworks and sounding car horns, while opposition voters banged pots and pans in protest.

Mr Maduro said he had spoken to Mr Capriles on the phone, and that he would allow an audit of the election result.

He called for those who had not voted for him to “work together” for the country.

But Mr Maduro’s margin of victory was far narrower than that achieved by the late President Chavez at elections last October, when he beat Mr Capriles by more than 10%.

Almost 80% of eligible voters took part in the poll.

Mr Maduro had been serving as acting president since Mr Chavez died of cancer on 5 March.

He is due to be sworn in on 19 April and serve until January 2019 to complete the six-year term that Mr Chavez would have begun in January.

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M.D