Maduro re-elected in Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been re-elected to another six-year term, voting results released by the National Election Council on Sunday show.

Maduro won by a wide margin, garnering over 5.8 million votes, almost 68 percent of the total. His closest rival, Henri Falcon, received about 1.8 million votes and third-place candidate Javier Bertucci got 925,042 votes.

Tibisay Lucena, council president, said over 8.6 million Venezuelans went to the polls, putting voter turnout at 46.01 percent. The announcement was made when the council had counted over 92 percent of the ballots.

Minutes after the announcement, Maduro celebrated what he called “a day of a beautiful victory”. He congratulated Venezuelans for their participation and called on opposition leaders, including former opposition candidates, to take part in constructive dialogue to promote national peace and prosperity.

However, both Falcon and Bertucci denounced alleged voting irregularities minutes before the election council issued its first official report.

According to Falcon, 87.6 percent of voting stations were close to so-called red points, government-organized ruling party centers used to mobilize the vote in favor of the ruling party, though he provided no evidence to back up the claim.

At a news conference, Bertucci told reporters, “If the results are very close, we are going to contest them; if the margin is very wide, we will have to concede.”

Maduro was first elected in 2013. His administration faced turbulence during his first term. Western countries have imposed economic sanctions on the country.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday that China’s policy has always been to refrain from interfering in other countries’ internal affairs, and China believes the Venezuelan government and people have the ability to handle their internal affairs. He also said the parties concerned should respect the choices made by the Venezuelan people and any disputes should be properly resolved within the existing legal framework in Venezuela.

Lucena of the electoral council said, “The people of Venezuela have made their pronouncement, and we ask everyone, nationally and international, to respect the results.”

CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS / REUTERS Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is surrounded by supporters during a gathering outside Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, after election results were released on Sunday.