Caracas: Ruling party candidate Nicolas Maduro narrowly won Venezuela's presidential election on Sunday, the electoral authority said, allowing him to continue the socialist policies of the late president Hugo Chavez. The National Electoral Council said Maduro won 50.7 per cent of the votes, compared to 49.1 per cent for his young rival, Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles. It said more than 99 per cent of the votes had been counted and that the result was "irreversible."
Chavez, who ruled for 14 years, anointed Maduro as his political heir in his last speech to the country before succumbing to cancer on March 5. That gave his former vice president and foreign minister a huge advantage but Capriles narrowed the gap in the final days of the campaign and the result was much closer than many had expected.
"I'm here to assume my responsibility with courage. The fight will continue," Maduro, 50, told a victory rally. There was no immediate response from Capriles, who earlier on Sunday alleged that there was a plan to try to change the result of the election. Capriles, 40, had argued that voters were tired of divisive Chavez-era politics, and vowed to tackle daily worries such as violent crime, high inflation and creaking utilities.
But in Venezuela's first presidential election without Chavez for two decades, the ruling Socialist Party's powerful get-out-the-vote machinery swung into action behind Maduro. Chavez's death, at 58, had cemented his already cult-like status among supporters, who adored his down-to-earth style,
10:29 AM, Apr 15, 2013
Caracas: Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution would be put to test on Sunday when the country goes to polls to elect a new president. Chavez's chosen successor will compete against a younger rival who promises change in the nation that Chavez polarized. Most opinion polls give his protege, acting President Nicolas Maduro, a strong lead over opposition challenger Henrique Capriles thanks to Chavez's endorsement and the surge of...
09:28 AM, Apr 14, 2013
Chavez, who died on Wednesday, led Venezuela for 14 years and had easily won a new six-year term in an election in October, defeating Capriles. His folksy charisma, anti-US diatribes and oil-financed projects to improve life for residents of long-neglected slums created an unusually powerful bond with many poor Venezuelans. ...
11:57 PM, Mar 07, 2013
Venezuelans will vote April 14, 2013, to choose a successor to Hugo Chavez, the elections commission announced on Saturday as increasingly strident political rhetoric begins to roil this polarized country. ... 
