Mr Maduro won 50.7% of the vote against 49.1% for opposition² candidate Henrique Capriles.

 

Mr Capriles has demanded a recount, saying Mr Maduro was now "even more loaded with illegitimacy". 

 

He said there were more than 300,000 incidents from Sunday's poll that would need to be examined.

 

Announcing the results late on Sunday night, the National Electoral Council said they were "irreversible".

 

As the news emerged, celebrations erupted in the capital, Caracas, where Mr Maduro's jubilant supporters set off fireworks and blasted car horns. Opposition voters banged pots and pans in protest.

 

In a victory speech outside the presidential palace, Mr Maduro, wearing the colours of the Venezuelan flag, told crowds that the result was "just, legal and constitutional".

 

He said his election showed Hugo Chavez "continues to be invincible³（无敌的）, that he continues to win battles''.

 

Mr Maduro said he had spoken to Mr Capriles on the phone, and that he would allow an audit⁴ of the election result.

 

He called for those who had not voted for him to "work together" for the country.

 

But Mr Maduro's margin⁵ of victory was far narrower than that achieved by Chavez at elections last October, when he beat Mr Capriles by more than 10%.

 

Almost immediately one member of the National Electoral Council who does not have government sympathies called on the authorities to carry out a recount by hand, a call later echoed by Mr Capriles himself.

 

At Mr Capriles' campaign headquarters the mood was sombre, as his supporters watched the results on television. Some cried, while others hung their heads in dismay, 

 

Shortly afterwards, Mr Capriles emerged, angry and defiant⁶（挑衅的）.

 

"It is the government that has been defeated," he said. Then, addressing Mr Maduro directly, he said: "The biggest loser today is you. The people don't love you." 

 

The new president faces an extremely complex task in office, says the BBC's Central America correspondent, Will Grant.

 

Venezuela has one of the highest rates of inflation in the region and crime rates have soared in recent years, particularly in Caracas. Food shortages and electricity blackouts are also common. 

 

But perhaps Mr Maduro's biggest challenge will be trying to govern a country which is so deeply divided and polarised, and where the opposition say they have an increasingly legitimate⁷ stake in the decision-making process, our correspondent says.

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