Venezuela audit confirms Maduro victory in presidential election

Venezuela’s electoral council has confirmed that President Nicolas Maduro won the presidential election in April after carrying out an audit on millions of votes.

The chair of the Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena, said on Tuesday that the body has reviewed paper receipts of about 4.6 million votes and found “no discrepancy” with the initial results.

On April 14, Nicolas Maduro won the presidential election with 50.7 percent of the vote against 49.1 percent for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.

Capriles refused to accept the results, claiming that a number of irregularities had occurred.

Lucena also said the “audit show that Venezuela has an electoral system that is armored against fraud and error.”

“This audit show the results of the election are the faithful reflection of the wishes of our citizens,” she added.

Capriles had demanded the audit and agreed with its terms before refusing to participate in the process, the head of the commission said.

The opposition candidate has vowed to continue challenging the results.

Last month, Capriles lodged a complaint at the Supreme Court and asked for new presidential election in the country. He later said that if the Supreme Court does not accept a demand for the new vote, he would bring the issue to international bodies.

Maduro replaced President Hugo Chavez, who lost a two-year-long battle with cancer on March 5.

Maduro has promised to continue the socialist policies of the former leader.

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