President Hugo Chavez has won re-election, defeating challenger Henrique Capriles and gaining six more years to cement his legacy and press ahead with his crusade for socialism in Venezuela.

With about 90 per cent of votes counted, Chavez had more than 54 per cent of the vote, and Capriles had 45 per cent, National Electoral Council President Tibisay Lucena said.

She said 81 per cent of the nearly 19 million registered voters cast ballots, one of the largest turnouts in years.

It was Chavez’s third re-election victory in nearly 14 years in office, though by a smaller margin than in 2006, when he won 63 per cent of the votes.

Fireworks exploded in downtown Caracas, and Chavez’s supporters celebrated waving flags and jumping for joy outside the presidential palace.

Chavez won more than 7.4 million votes, beating Capriles by more than 1.2 million votes, Lucena said.

Capriles congratulated Chavez and told his supporters not to feel defeated.

“We have planted many seeds across Venezuela and I know that these seeds are going to produce many trees,” he told supporters in a speech late Sunday.

Chavez spent heavily in the months before the vote, building public housing and bankrolling expanded social programmes providing benefits to poor families.

Capriles, a youthful state governor, became a strong challenger after winning a February primary and rallied an Opposition that grew more united and better organised than in the past. But in the end, it was no match for Chavez’s electoral prowess.

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