Just months after battling a rare cancer, Venezuela president Hugo Chávez fought the toughest electoral contest of his life to emerge the champion with nearly 54.4 percent of the votes.
"Thank you, my God. Thanks to everyone. Thanks my beloved people!!! Viva Venezuela!!!! Viva Bolivar!!!!!" - Victorious Hugo Chávez tweeted after winning the presidential elections to govern the socialist country in his fourth term in a row.
The much-awaited result came as the election officials announced Chavez the winner after 90 percent of the ballots counted while the young opposition candidate Henrique Capriles managed to score 44.97 percent of votes, setting a record for scoring more votes than any previous challenger.
Tibisay Lucena, President of the National Electoral Council revealed that Chavez had secured 7.4 million votes and Capriles 6.1 million votes.
The long-ruling leftist leader had the last laugh defeating a rigorous campaign led by Capriles, which accused the administration for corruption, infrastructure shortcomings and inefficiencies. Refuting the allegations made against him by Capriles', whom Chavez had termed a "fly" not worth chasing, incumbent President made history by winning another six-year term highlighting his achievements in the fields of education health initiative and housing.
The 2012 Venezuelan presidential elections had all the eyes glued it as the opposition and the rest of the world thought this was their best chance in last 14 years to dethrone the charismatic mass leader; however, Chavez once again proved himself to be too good to accept an easy defeat, but made a strong statement of his political importance in Latin America.
Capriles held Chavez to a single-digit margin of victory in a furious electoral battle which had a record 80.4 percent voter turnout.
"In order to win, one must know how to lose. For me the people's voices are sacred. For those who feel sad, I tell them, 'we started to build a road and there it is'. We have six million people who want a new road," Capriles was quoted in the Guardian.
The streets of Caracas, the national capital, echoed "Viva Le Patria" and "Ooh Aah, Chávez won't go" as jubilant supporters began their celebrations of their leader's victory, who holds a near-Messianic status among the poor in the country.
The victory came as a relief to many leftist countries in the region such as Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua who largely relay of oil rich Venezuela and its generous leftist leader. Although an outspoken opponent of the imperialistic US government, the Chavez led government is the fourth-largest exporter of oil to the United States.
