Venezuelan Elections Results: Hugo Chávez's Heir Wins, Opposition Demand Recount

Nicolás Maduro, the late Hugo Chávez's right hand man, won the election on Sunday with a very narrow victory. Barely 200,000 votes separated Maduro from his opponent, new contender Henrique Capriles who refused to concede defeat and demanded a full recount.

Maduro had been expected to cruise to victory amid the country's grief for Chávez's death and his promises to carry on the Comandante's legacy. But the constant problems in the country, including inflation, crumbling infrastructure and outages, brought Maduro down in the voting booths. Nevertheless, the new interim president hailed his predecessor once more when he declared in his victory that Chávez remains to be invincible.

The official recount was a 50.66 percent to Maduro, a 49.07 percent to Capriles. A 77 percent of eligible voters casted a ballot. Authorities reported that voting went smoothly and there were no evidence of irregularities.

Capriles, on the other hand, said his party had reported over 3,000 irregularities in the process. The leader of opposition remained defiant and said that he would demand a recount, arguing that his campaign had reached a result different than what had been announced.

"The big loser today is you -- you and what you represent," he told Maduro.

The victory for Maduro had been expected, but not with the razor-thin margin results showed on Sunday. The surprise has brought to surface the dissent within the Chavista movement.

"The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism. It's contradictory that the poor sectors of the population vote for their longtime exploiters," tweeted the president of the national assembly, Diosdado Cabello.