Chavez re-elected Venezuelan president - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Incumbent Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has won the presidential election with 54.42 percent of the vote, Tibisay Lucena Ramirez, president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced late Sunday. With 90 percent of the votes counted, Chavez, who will serve a third six-year term starting from January 2013, defeated opposition challenger Henrique Capriles, who represents the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition and gained 44.97 percent of votes. "We achieved an 80.9 percent participation rate, the highest participation rate in decades," said Ramirez. Chavez supporters fired massive fireworks into the sky in celebration, as the result was announced. Some 19 million Venezuelans were eligible to vote in Sunday's elections The polling stations were supposed to close at 6 p.m, but many polling stations stayed open later because voters were still waiting outside to vote.