Maduro’s Venezuela win disputed

CARACAS, Venezuela — Officials declared Socialist leader Nicolas Maduro the easy winner of Sunday’s presidential election — but his leading challenger questioned the legitimacy of a vote marred by irregularities.

Challenger Henri Falcon called for a new ballot to prevent a brewing social crisis from exploding.

The National Election Council said that with almost 93% of polling stations reporting, Maduro won nearly 68% of the votes, beating nearest challenger Falcon by more than 40 points.

The disputed victory is likely to heighten international pressure on Maduro, as voter turnout was the lowest in a presidential race since the start of Venezuela’s leftist revolution two decades ago.

Even as voting took place Sunday, a senior State Department official warned the U.S. might press ahead on threats of imposing crippling oil sanctions on the nation that sits atop the world’s largest crude reserves.

The election “without any doubt lacks legitimacy, and we categorically refuse to recognize this process,” Falcon told supporters before the results were announced.

He was joined in his call for a new election by thirdplace finisher Javier Bertucci, who got around 11% of the vote. Bertucci, a TV evangelist, stopped short of challenging the results, saying what he called a mistaken opposition boycott that led to the lowest voter turnout in two decades of Socialist rule also boosted Maduro.