Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has won a third term with 51% of the vote, the country's electoral authority said just after midnight on Monday (July 29), with 80% of ballot boxes counted, Reuters reports.
The result announced by the authority came despite multiple exit polls which pointed to an opposition win.
The authority said opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won 44% of the vote, though the opposition had earlier said it had "reasons to celebrate" and asked supporters to continue monitoring vote counts.
Venezuela's military has always supported Maduro, a 61-year-old former bus driver and foreign minister, and there have been no public signs that leaders of the armed forces are breaking from the government.
