Venezeulan election

Chavez wins Venezuela's presidential election

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has won another term in office, the country's electoral authority has announced.

TVNZ,

8 October, 2012

With 90% of the ballots counted, the 58-year-old socialist won 54% of the vote to beat opposition challenger Henrique Capriles, who took 45%, election officials said.

Capriles accepted defeat and congratulated Chavez.

"I send him my congratulations," Capriles told supporters at his campaign headquarters, looking downcast but saying he was proud of the large number of voters who turned out to cast their ballots for him.

Capriles, a centrist state governor, had edged toward the still popular Chavez in final polls thanks to a vigorous campaign that united the opposition and made him its best chance of ending Chavez's 14-year rule.

The mood was grim at his campaign headquarters, where opposition supporters broke into tears.

The opposition will now have to regroup quickly for state elections in December.

Flagbearer of 'anti-imperialism'

Jubilant Chavez supporters set off fireworks as the results were announced.

Since taking power in 1999, Chavez has become a global flagbearer of "anti-imperialism," gleefully baiting the US government while befriending leaders from Iran to Belarus whom the West views with suspicion.

At home, the former soldier has poured billions of oil revenues into anti-poverty programs, and skillfully used his humble roots and folksy oratory to build a close connection with the masses.

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While that connection ensured his re-election, the opposition's big share of the vote reflected a real and growing anger at Chavez's failure to fix basic problems such as violent crime, potholed roads, electricity blackouts, and entrenched corruption at all levels.

Attention will now shift to Chavez's plans for a new six-year term at the helm of South America's biggest oil exporter.

Risk of violence

The government spent lavishly during the campaign to boost Chavez's chances, likely ensuring healthy growth of 4 to 5% this year but potentially paving the way for an inflation-fueled economic hangover in 2013.

In the past, Chavez has taken advantage of election wins to press forward with radical reforms, and there is speculation his taste for nationalisations may turn to some untouched corners of Venezuela's banking, food and health industries.

There is a risk of violence if the result is contested.

There have been no formal international observers, although Venezuela invited a delegation of the UNASUR group of South American nations to "accompany" the vote.

Local groups have been monitoring and both sides have said they trusted trust the electronic, fingerprint vote system.

The opposition said it would have witnesses at all of the 13,810 polling centres from tiny Amazon villages to tough Caracas slums.