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Maduro claims disputed election win

Nicolás Maduro has been in power for 11 years. Credit: Getty Images

Before Venezuelans went to the polls, opposition supporters felt they had a real chance of ousting President Nicolás Maduro, whose PSUV party has been in power for 25 years. But with 80% of ballots counted, the National Electoral Council (CNE) has announced Mr Maduro secured 51% of the vote to win a third term in power. "I will defend our democracy, our law and our people," he told supporters. Opposition candidate Edmundo González polled 44%, according to the CNE, a body dominated by government loyalists. But his backers said their research suggested Mr González had won with 70% of the votes. Opposition leader María Corina Machado - who was barred from standing - declared him the rightful president-elect, saying: "We won and everyone knows it." Some 7.8 million Venezuelans have fled economic turmoil under Mr Maduro - many heading for the US, whose Secretary of State Antony Blinken was among those expressing scepticism at the result.

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• Crackdown on dissent: Ahead of polls opening, Jessica Cruz and Ione Wells were in Caracas to hear both from supporters of the government and those who say they are victims of its repression.

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• Economic pain: Venezuela has finally shaken off hyperinflation but with its underlying problems - chiefly a dependence on oil - persisting, the economy remained a key electoral issue, writes Robert Plummer.

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• Why it matters: The result will not just affect Venezuelans but could have an impact on US immigration and relations with the West, writes our Latin America online editor Vanessa Buschschlüter.

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• North Korea: Record rainfall has left thousands of people stranded by floods, prompting leader Kim Jong Un - photographed travelling through floodwaters in a Lexus - to declare an emergency, state media has reported.

• Economic co-operation: Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to "relaunch" relations with China, as she began her first visit to Beijing since taking office.

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