Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor, won the presidential election in Venezuela to serve out the remainder of the deceased leader's last six-year presidential term. The margin of victory was surprisingly thin. Maduro received 50.7 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, versus 49.1 percent for Henrique Capriles, a state governor who offered a strong challenge to Chavez last October. Capriles has challenged the results, rejecting the outcome as "illegitimate," and claiming that more than 3,000 incidents occurring at the polls need to be investigated. Maduro insisted otherwise. "We have a just, legal, constitutional and popular electoral victory," he said, further contending that his victory demonstrates Hugo Chavez "continues to be invincible, that he continues to win battles."
