Tag: maduro

Written by Matthew Harper Media by Bobby Williams. In its first steps into a post Hugo Chavez-government, Venezuela seems to still be struggling. Tensions are flaring in the South American nation after the unexpectedly close election declared Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s chosen heir, the new President. Maduro was a heavy favorite heading into the election, with many polls showing him having a double-digit percentage lead on his competitor, Henrique Capriles. When the final numbers came in, though, Maduro only had 50.8% of the vote, and, with over 3,000 incidents on election day in need of inspection according to Capriles (BBC News), it’s hard to believe that things were handled in a fair and legitimate manner. The Associated Press cites a campaign coordinator for Capriles as having said that Maduro and his camp “know perfectly well what happened and so do we. They are misleading their people and are trying to mislead the people of this country." Capriles himself took to Twitter to tell his followers not to distress, but he reiterated his campaign’s stance that they were, in some way, cheated.