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
Venezuela's acting president urged US leader Barack Obama to stop what he called a plot by the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency to kill his opposition rival and trigger a coup before an April 14, 2013, election. ...
12:10 AM, Mar 18, 2013
Venezuela's Supreme Court says Vice President Nicolas Maduro became acting president the moment Hugo Chavez died, and can run for president. The decision comes just hours before Maduro is to be sworn in as acting president before the National Assembly and it was issued during the state funeral for Chavez. National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello had earlier announced the planned swearing-in, which the opposition says it is boycotting. ...
06:55 AM, Mar 09, 2013
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez remained on his sickbed in Cuba on January 10 while thousands of supporters rallied in his honor on the day he should have been sworn in for a new six-year term in the South American OPEC nation. The postponement of the inauguration, a first in Venezuelan history, has laid bare the gravity of Chavez's condition after complications from a fourth cancer operation in his pelvic area....
09:49 AM, Jan 11, 2013
President Hugo Chavez's formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for January 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his battle to recover from cancer surgery, Venezuela's vice president said on January 4. Nicolas Maduro's comments were the clearest indication yet that the Venezuelan government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding naming a replacement for Chavez or calling a new election in...
12:28 PM, Jan 05, 2013
Caracas: Allies of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez swept nearly all of Venezuela's 23 states in Sunday's regional vote, but Henrique Capriles consolidated his position as top opposition leader by winning re-election as governor. The 40-year-old governor of Miranda beat Chavez's former vice president Elias Jaua to retain his job at the head of Venezuela's second-most populous state Miranda, leaving him as candidate-in-waiting if Chavez's ill health forces him to step...
10:19 AM, Dec 17, 2012
Caracas: Incumbent Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has won the presidential election with 54.42 per cent of the vote, an official said. With 90 per cent of the votes counted, Chavez, who will serve a third six-year term starting from January 2013, defeated opposition challenger Henrique Capriles, who represents the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition and gained 44.97 per cent of votes, reported Xinhua. "We achieved an 80.9 per cent participation...
10:27 AM, Oct 08, 2012
