The Venezuelan Central Elections Commission announced Monday morning that Acting President Nicolas Maduro has won the nation’s presidential polls in a narrow victory.
Maduro, a protégé of the late Hugo Chavez, squeaked out a win in the election by a margin of less than 1 percent.
Considered the political heir to the former president, Maduro, who is currently the acting president, defeated challenger Henrique Capriles by a difference of 50.75 to 49.07 percentage points.
Maduro is an outspoken critic of the State of Israel, and a close ally of Iran – as was Chavez, who died of cancer six weeks ago.
Despite having been the hand-picked successor to the former president, however, Maduro faced new elections due to a mandate in the country’s Constitution that ruled polls were necessary because Chavez was already too ill by January to attend his own inauguration, despite having been re-elected in October.
Caprile’s supporters have requested an audit of the election results, claiming the polls were rigged, according to Russia Today.
Maduro has agreed to the review.