Incumbent Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez has won the presidential election with 54.42 percent of the
vote, Tibisay Lucena Ramirez, president of the National Electoral
Council (CNE) announced late Sunday.
With 90 percent of the votes counted, Chavez, who will serve a
third six-year term starting from January 2013, defeated opposition
challenger Henrique Capriles, who represents the Democratic Unity
Roundtable (MUD) coalition and gained 44.97 percent of votes.
"We achieved an 80.9 percent participation rate, the highest
participation rate in decades," said Ramirez.
Chavez supporters fired massive fireworks into the sky in
celebration, as the result was announced.
Some 19 million Venezuelans were eligible to vote in Sunday's
elections The polling stations were supposed to close at 6 p.m, but
many polling stations stayed open later because voters were still
waiting outside to vote.
