Hugo Chávez was elected president of Venezuela for the fourth time in a row. If his health conditions allow it, he will therefore be able to govern until 2019, bringing his cycle to twenty consecutive years in power. Yesterday he defeated his adversary Henrique Capriles Gavronsky, the sole candidate of the opposition, by a gap that the partial data estimate at about ten points: 54,5 against 45 percent.
Capriles has already admitted defeat, congratulating the president confirmed for the fourth time by his people. It was the presidential election with the largest voter turnout, over 80 percent, testifying to a close battle. The opposition scored the best result of the Chávez era (in 2006 he had lost by a gap of 26 points), but it was a burning defeat. For days, polls and observers had been giving Capriles good hopes of victory, or a narrow defeat.
