Venezuela election board proclaims Maduro president-elect

On Monday, National Electoral Council (CNE) president Tibisay Lucena presented the certified results to Maduro after declaring him "president-elect of Venezuela."
 
Lucena then announced the final figures for the vote, and said Maduro won with 50.75 percent of the vote compared to 48.97 percent for opposition leader Henrique Capriles.
 
The final score was about 30,000 votes wider than initial results.
 
"I am the son of Chavez. I am the first Chavista president after Hugo Chavez Frias and I will fulfill his legacy to protect the poor, to protect our independence," Maduro said.
 
Capriles has refused to accept the result, saying there were thousands of irregularities, and has called on his supporters to protest in the streets.
 
Lucena said the opposition could use "the legal path" instead of "threats" if it wants to dispute the result.
 
Venezuelan police fired teargas at hundreds of demonstrators chanting "fraud" and "recount" in a district of Caracas on Monday.
 
Maduro supporters say the opposition must accept defeat. "The numbers don't lie. The little bourgeois should recognize the result given by the CNE," Nahem Machado, a 41-year-old construction worker, said.
 
Ignacio Avalos, a sociology professor at Central University of Venezuela, said Venezuela was in a "very delicate situation."
 
"Such a thin difference in a country that is so extremely polarized is hard to deal with politically," Avalos said.
 
He added, "The big challenge, however this finishes, is how to become one country again, with its conflicts and contradictions."
 
Maduro, 50, became Venezuela’s acting president on March 8, following the death of Chavez, who lost a two-year battle with cancer on March 5.