Venezuelan President Maduro wins re-election

 

 

Maduro celebrated his re-election during a victory rally in central Caracas Sunday night, after the country's National Electoral Council president declared him the winner.

 

"I am a better prepared president and human being right now," he said to a cheering crowd outside Miraflores presidential palace.

 

"You trusted in me and I will respond. Thank you for giving me 68% of those votes."

 

Maduro, who first took office in 2013 after his predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez died, will govern Venezuela for another six-year term. The term officially begins in January 2019 and ends in 2025.

 

"This is my fourth victory in a row," Maduro said. "This is our [party's] 22nd victory in 19 years -- we have prevailed."

 

Amid widespread economic anxiety, Maduro also said the country will enter a "new phase" and fight against "the mafias" to revamp the economy.

 

The main opposition coalition boycotted the election, but Maduro was not without challengers.

 

Maduro's chief rival for the presidency was Henri Falcon, a former state governor and onetime loyalist of the ruling party who broke ranks in 2010. About 5.8 million votes went to Maduro and Falcon came in second with 1.8 million votes, according to National Electoral Council president Tibisay Lucena. These figures were based on 92.6% of the tallied votes.

 

Lucena said 46% of Venezuela's voting population participated in the election.

 

On Sunday, Falcon cited hundreds of complaints of election violations. Election officials said they would address the claims.

 

Many countries, including the United States, have called the election a "sham" and said they would not recognize the results of Sunday's vote.

 

Maduro said he would be open to dialogue with the "empire" of the United States.

 

"If the government of the United States wants to dialogue at some point, I am open to dialogue. If the other right wing countries that are supported by the US want to dialogue, I am open to that," he said.

 

Amid allegations that the election process lacked legitimacy, Maduro had said earlier in a Sunday news conference: "There has been a fierce campaign by the government of Donald Trump. In the United States there has been a fierce pressure to try to besmirch the Venezuelan elections -- and they couldn't."

 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that he was watching the election closely. "Sham elections change nothing. We need Venezuelan people running this country ... a nation with so much to offer the world," he said on Twitter.

 

Former Cuban president Raul Castro sent his regards and those of the Cuban Communist Party, congratulating Maduro's "momentous electoral victory," according to a tweet from Venezuela's Minister for International Relations Jorge Arreaza.