Chávez’s chosen successor wins presidential election by whisker

Late socialist leader Hugo Chávez’s chosen successor Nicolas Maduro won Venezuela’s presidential election by a whisker, but faces opposition protests plus a host of economic and political challenges in the Opec nation.

The 50-year-old former bus driver, whom Chávez named as his preferred heir before dying from cancer, edged out opposition challenger Henrique Capriles with 50.7% of the votes in Sunday’s election, according to election board returns. Capriles took 49.1%, a difference of 235,000 ballots.

Capriles, whose strong showing beat most forecasts, refused to recognise the result and said his team had a list of more than 3,000 irregularities ranging from gunshots to the illegal reopening of polling centres.