Maduro declared victor of Venezuela

Incumbent Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of Sunday’s  but the opposition said they were preparing to dispute the results.

Elvis Amoroso, president of the CNE electoral authority, said Maduro secured a third six-year term with 51.2 percent of the vote. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had been leading in opinion polls, got 44.2 percent, he said.

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Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro wins third term with result disputed

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Will President Nicolas Maduro win another term in Venezuela?

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Venezuela awaits results after hard-fought election battle

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As Venezuela’s election nears, opposition figures face Maduro’s repression

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The electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, did not immediately release the tallies from each of the 30,000 polling stations nationwide.

Opposition representatives said earlier that tallies they collected from campaign representatives at the centres had shown Gonzalez trouncing Maduro.

In comments shortly after the announcement, Maduro said his re-election was a triumph of peace and stability and reiterated his campaign trail claims that the voting system was transparent.

Maduro, 61, first won power in 2013 after his mentor, socialist Hugo Chavez, died from cancer. He has been accused of locking up critics and harassing the opposition and has failed to end a years-long economic crisis that has prompted more than seven million of Venezuela’s 30 million citizens to emigrate.

The opposition on a promise to end the economic crisis and exit polls suggested they stood a strong chance of beating Maduro.

Gonzalez replaced popular opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the ticket after authorities loyal to Maduro excluded her from the race.