Nicolas Maduro has won the elections in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Maduro was designated as successor to the late President Hugo Chavez Frias., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Maduro wins Venezuela presidency
Girish Gupta, Special for USA TODAY12:10 a.m. EDT April 15, 2013
Maduro's appointment as heir has been the focus of his pitch to voters ahead of the election.
Maduro spent much of the short campaign invoking name of his former boss
Officials say Maduro defeated Henrique Capriles by only about 200,000 votes
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan electoral officials say voters have narrowly elected Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor as president in a razor-close special election Sunday.
Winner Nicolas Maduro campaigned on a promise to carry on Chavez's self-styled socialist revolution, and defeated a two-time challenger who claimed the late president's regime has put Venezuela on the road to ruin.
Officials say Maduro defeated Henrique Capriles by only about 200,000 votes. The margin was 50.8% to 49.1%.
Tensions rose after polls closed with both sides hinting at victory and suggested the other was plotting fraud.
Capriles and his campaign have suggested the government was trying to steal the election.
"They know perfectly well what happened and so do we," he said. "They are misleading their people and are trying to mislead the people of this country."
Capriles also suggested fraud was in the works in a Twitter message: "We alert the country and the world of the intent to change the will of the people!"
Maduro's Twitter account, with more than 700,000 followers, was hacked Sunday evening as Venezuelans awaited the results.
"Thank you to all of those who follow me on this Twitter account," the hacker tweeted. "I just got 700,000 followers in record time."
Turnout appeared low as Venezuelans headed to the polls for the second time in seven months. Gangs of red-clad motorcyclists rode through the slums of Caracas on Sunday morning calling people to get out and vote for Maduro.
No comments:
Post a Comment