Chavez re-elected in Venezuela

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was re-elected to another six-year term after seeing off a stiff challenge from youthful opposition leader Henrique Capriles, partial results showed. Chavez on Sunday took 54.42 percent of the vote compared to 44.97 percent for his opponent, the National Electoral Council said, as fireworks erupted across Caracas from supporters of the president and his socialist revolution. Hundreds of Chavez supporters assembled before the announcement in front of the Miraflores presidential palace, setting off firecrackers, honking horns and holding signs as his campaign song blared. The result after a massive turnout showed a far tougher contest than Chavez has endured so far to his 14-year tenure. He won the 2006 election with 62 percent of the voter and by a margin of more than 20 percent. There was no immediate reaction from the 40-year-old Capriles, who had earlier promised to honor the result, whatever came. With the deeply divided nation bracing for the results amid an atmosphere of widespread distrust, the leftist Chavez and his rival had both appealed for calm as some booths remained open well after the scheduled closing hour. "I ask the nation to stay calm, be patient and that nobody despair, that nobody fall into provocations, no violence, and we wait for the results," Chavez said in a phone call to his campaign team. "Calm, act sensibly, patience! Today was a historic, magnificent day, the people spoke!" Capriles wrote earlier on Twitter. "We know what happened and we must wait! Viva Venezuela!" Chavez held a 10-point lead in the latest opinion poll before Sunday's vote, but other surveys had indicated a statistical dead heat. Capriles, a former state governor, had surged in opinion polls during the campaign as he attracted huge rallies with promises to curb runaway crime and unite the polarized South American country. Weakened by a bout with cancer, the 58-year-old Chavez stepped up campaigning in the last week of the race, warning that Capriles would undo his popular social "missions" for the poor. Sitting on the world's biggest proven crude oil deposits, Chavez has used petro-dollars to build a network of regional allies and secure the loyalty of poor Venezuelans dependent on the generosity of his social programs. Key Communist ally Cuba and other Latin American partners were watching closely to see if Capriles, at the head of a united opposition, could pull off a stunning upset and defeat the anti-American firebrand. Voters began standing in line early after Chavez supporters played military-style bugles before dawn to roust loyalists of the president. As he arrived to vote in the 23 de Enero slum, one of his Caracas bastions, Chavez was greeted by an adoring crowd with chants of "ooh, ahh, Chavez won't go!" Election experts say the electronic voting system is reliable, but suspicions have run high that whoever loses will not concede defeat. The campaign was marred last weekend by a shooting that left three Capriles supporters dead during a campaign event in western Venezuela. Mentored by Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chavez has become the leading voice of Latin America's left, railing against the US "empire" while befriending Iran and Syria.A highly polarizing figure who survived a coup in 2002 and became popular with the long-neglected poor for using the country's vast oil wealth to fund health and education programs, he is now accused of corruption and cronyism. Capriles, who describes himself as David fighting Goliath, won an unprecedented primary election in February, uniting the opposition behind him after years of fragmentation during Chavez's rule. Nicknamed "Skinny," Chavez's young rival, an avid runner, had campaigned in around 300 towns, wearing a baseball cap in Venezuela's yellow, blue and red as he accused the president of being "sick with power." The opposition accused Chavez of misusing public funds for his campaign and dominating the airwaves while forcing government workers to attend rallies through intimidation. Capriles has hammered Chavez over the country's regular power outages, food shortages and runaway murder rate, which has risen to 50 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Though a business-friendly candidate, Capriles wooed Chavez's base by presenting himself as a center-left politician who would continue social "missions" that deliver free health care and subsidized food to the poor. Chavez has rankled the private sector by nationalizing a slew of companies in the oil, electricity and bank sectors as part of his self-styled 21st century socialism. Capriles had pledged to invite more private investment to the state-run PDVSA oil company and depoliticize the firm. Some 140,000 troops were deployed to prevent violence while borders were closed and alcohol sales were banned until Monday.