Nicolás Maduro declared winner in Venezuela’s presidential election

CARACAS, Venezuela (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Venezuela's president held on to win re-election despite his opposition preparing to dispute the results.

Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner in Venezuela's presidential election Sunday, claming his third term in office, even as his opponents were preparing to dispute the results.

Shortly after midnight, the National Electoral Council said Maduro secured 51% of the vote, overcoming opposition candidate Edmundo González, who garnered 44%. It said the results were based on a tally of 80% of voting stations, marking an irreversible trend.

But the electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, didn't immediately release the official tallies from each of the 15,797 voting centers nationwide, hampering the opposition's ability to challenge the results after claiming it had the voting acts for only 30% of the ballot boxes.

The delay in announcing results six hours after polls were supposed to close indicated a deep debate inside the government about how to proceed after Maduro's opponents came out early in the evening all but claiming victory.

Opposition representatives said tallies they collected from campaign representatives at the polling stations showed Gonzalez trouncing Maduro.