Venezuela’s acting President Nicolas Maduro has won presidential election to succeed his late mentor Hugo Chavez by a razor-thin margin that highlights rising discontent over problems ranging from crime to power blackouts. Former bus driver and union leader Nicolas Maduro, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, is an ardent follower of Satya Sai Baba. He and his wife, Cilia Flores, visited Puttaparthi in 2005.
Maduro’s rival and opposition leader Henrique Capriles demanded a recount, portending more headaches for a country shaken by the death of its dominating leader. One key Chavista leader expressed dismay over the outcome of Sunday’s election, which was supposed to cement the self-styled “Bolivarian Revolution” of their beloved president as Venezuela’s destiny. National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello, who many consider Maduro’s main rival within their movement, tweeted: “The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism.”
Maduro promised to carry on Chavez’s legacy, while challenger Henrique Capriles’ main message was that Chavez put this country with the world’s largest oil reserves on the road to ruin.
Despite the ill feelings, both men sent their supporters home and urged them to refrain from violence. Capriles insisted on a recount and Maduro said he was open to one, though it was not immediately clear if election officials might permit it.
“We are not going to recognise a result until each vote of Venezuelans is counted,” Capriles said. “This struggle has not ended.” Maduro, meanwhile, said, “let 100 percent of the ballot boxes be opened. ... We’re going to do it; we have no fear.”
Maduro, acting president since Chavez’s March 5 death, held a double-digit advantage in opinion polls just two weeks ago, but electoral officials said he got just 50.7 percent of the votes compared to 49.1 percent for Capriles, with nearly all ballots counted.
The margin was about 234,935 votes out of 14.8 million cast. Turnout was 78 percent, down from just over 80 percent in the October election that Chavez won by a nearly 11-point margin over Capriles. Analysts called the slim margin a disaster for Maduro.
Maduro, a longtime foreign minister to Chavez, rode a wave of sympathy for the charismatic leader to victory, pinning his hopes on the immense loyalty for his boss among millions of poor beneficiaries of government largesse and the powerful state apparatus that Chavez skillfully consolidated.