Nicolás Maduro promised ‘peace, stability and justice’ for Venezuela in a speech he gave shortly after announcing his re-election for a third term, in front of celebrating supporters outside the Presidential Palace in Caracas.
‘There will be peace, stability and justice. Peace and respect for the law. I am a man of peace and dialogue,’ he said, as the campaign and elections took place in a tense atmosphere, with the opposition denouncing numerous intimidations and arrests.
Maduro, in power since 2013, also called for ‘respect for the will of the people’ after being proclaimed the winner of Sunday's presidential elections.
The Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) announced Maduro's re-election for a third consecutive term with 51.20 per cent of the vote.
Maduro received 5.15 million votes, ahead of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who got just under 4.5 million (44.2 per cent), according to the official figures announced by CNE president Elvis Amoroso.
The results were announced after 80 per cent of the ballot papers had been counted and 59 per cent of voters had gone to the polls. The result ‘is irreversible’, he declared
