Venezuela's Maduro sworn in as president, says ready for dialogue with opponents

Venezuela's newly-elected president, Nicolas Maduro, was cheered by supporters in the capital Caracas on Friday after he gave his inauguration address before the National Assembly.            

During his speech to lawmakers, Maduro said he was prepared to enter a dialogue with his political opponent, Henrique Capriles.                  

"I am willing to have a dialogue with the devil himself, may God forgive me," he said before Venezuelan officials and world leaders that included Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Cuban President, Raul Castro.             

Maduro, 50, was declared the winner of Sunday's election by a slim 267,000-vote margin out of 14.9 (m) million ballots cast. Capriles has alleged a series of vote irregularities, some of which would be turned up by a new audit.                

"We recognize and respect the seven million voters who voted for a different candidate than the homeland candidate. We love you, we say to you, we call to you, not to let yourself be consumed with so much intolerance and hatred," said Maduro.        

The speech at the National Assembly was followed by a grand procession through the streets of Caracas, culminating with a ceremony preformed by the Venezuelan military.
              
Elsewhere in Caracas, opponents of Maduro took to the streets banging pots and pans to show their anger.                     

Capriles has alleged that there was damage to 3,535 voting machines, representing 189,982 votes, and that voting rolls included 600,000 dead people.             

He said that many of those irregularities took place in polling locations that were not audited on election day.                     

The vote did not include more than 100,000 votes cast abroad, where more than 90 percent were cast for Capriles in an earlier election against late leader Hugo Chavez last October.                                    

The National Electoral Council in Lima will audit 46 percent of the vote not already scrutinized on election night.         

Capriles had demanded a full vote-by-vote recount but said he accepted the ruling.


APTN