Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro wins reelection with 51.2% of vote: Electoral council

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro won reelection with 51.2 percent of votes cast Sunday, the electoral council announced, after a campaign tainted by claims of opposition intimidation and fears of fraud.

Elvis Amoroso, president of the CNE electoral body, in its majority loyal to the government, told reporters 44.2 percent of votes had gone to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia who had been leading in polls.

Maduro, 61, won a third six-year term at the helm of the once wealthy petro-state where GDP dropped by 80 percent in a decade, pushing more than seven million of its 30 million citizens to emigrate.

AFP