June 2013 News 21 A THIN VICTORY FOR MADURO IN VENEZUELAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

A THIN VICTORY FOR MADURO IN VENEZUELAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

In the Venezuelan Presidential election held on April 14, 2013, the former President Hugo Chavez's hand picked successor won by a stunning narrow margin indicating rising discontent over problems ranging from crime to power blackouts.
Maduro won with    50.66% votes according to official tally. Maduro beat opposition challenger Henrique Capriles by a margin of less than two percentage  points (a difference of less than
3,00,000 votes), said National Electoral Council's President I ibisay Lucena.

The 50-year-old former foreign minister declared he secured a fair, legal, constitutional victory. But he said he was open to an audit of the close vote tally. Maduro's slim victory provides an inauspicious start for the Chavismo, movement's transition to a post-Chavez era and raises the possibility that he could face challenges from rivals within the disparate leftist coalition.