Maduro wins Venezuela presidential election

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The president of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, Tibisay Lucena, announced Sunday that the head of state, Nicolas Maduro, was re-elected with 5,823,728 votes, EFE reports.

The main opponent, Henri Falcon, received 1,820,552 votes, while the candidate Javier Bertucci received 925,042 votes and Reinaldo Quijada 34,614.

Lucena said that these results have been announced "with 42.6 percent of preliminary results, with 46.01 percent of voter turnout and a projection to 48 percent of participation" and "with a total of 8,603,936 valid votes."

"We ask all of them and we tell them, the people of Venezuela spoke out and we ask all of them, national and international, to respect the electoral results, to respect the people of Venezuela who voted peacefully," he said.

She indicated that this was an electoral process "that took place, as the tradition of the people of Venezuela, with great tranquility, with great civility."

Maduro thanked his supporters after the results were known.

"Thank you for such courage and bravery. Thank you so much for popular conscience. Thanks for overcoming so many aggressions and so many lies, and thanks for choosing me president," he said, speaking from the balcony of Miraflores Palace.