Maduro wins Venezuelan presidency

(Vatican Radio) Nicolas Maduro has won Venezuela's presidential election by a proverbial whisker, and has vowed to continue the socialist revolution of the late Hugo Chavez.

With more than 18 million people eligible to go to the polls, and a turnout of 80 per cent, winning the presidential election, by some 300,000 votes, is little more than a political hair's breath.

Maduro, who was hand picked by Hugo Chavez as is successor, won with 50.8 per cent of the vote. His opponent, Henrique Capriles, took 49.1 per cent. The country's electoral commission has confirmed the result.

Both had previously said they would respect the vote, but Capriles has made accusations of irregularities in the Election Day process.

Maduro served as interim President in the run up to the election. His campaign relied heavily on drawing on the memory of his late leader.

He now gets to continue the leftist trend in his own right, when he is inaugurated 19 April.

Listen to the report by James Blears: