Result with 80% of vote counted goes against opinion polls that suggested Maduro was facing possible defeat against little-known ex-diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia
Nicolás Maduro has been declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election by the government-controlled electoral authority – a result that appeared to dash opposition hopes of ending 25 years of socialist rule and was immediately contested by his political rivals and several governments in the region.
After a six-hour delay in releasing the results of Sunday’s election sparked an outpouring of concern from South American governments, the national electoral council claimed Maduro had won with 51.21% of votes compared with 44.2% for his rival, the former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia.