Nicolas Maduro was sworn in as Venezuela’s President on Friday at a ceremony attended by leaders from Iran to Brazil after a decision to widen an electronic audit of the vote took some of the heat out of a dispute over his election.
Maduro took the oath of office alongside a large framed photo of the Socialist Chavez
Maduro, a bus driver-turned-Foreign Minister who became the late Hugo Chavez’s chosen successor, narrowly beat Opposition challenger Henrique Capriles in the election last Sunday.
Capriles refused to accept the result, alleged widespread irregularities, demanded a full recount and called his supporters onto the streets in protest.
The Government says eight people were killed in post-election violence and Maduro blamed the deaths on Capriles, although the Opposition says Maduro allies staged some incidents to distract attention from the dispute over balloting.
Maduro took the oath of office alongside a large framed photo of the Socialist Chavez, who led Venezuela for 14 years before losing a battle against cancer last month.
“I swear, on the eternal legacy of our founding fathers ... on the eternal memory of our supreme commander, that I will uphold this constitution,” Maduro said.
In his first speech as President, which coincided with Venezuela’s celebration of its declaration of independence, Maduro offered a sentimental tribute to Chavez, the fiery and charismatic Socialist whose death from cancer in March triggered Sunday’s vote. “Every day I wake up thinking about him, and I go to bed thinking about him, in need of his guidance,” Maduro said.
He at times seemed to reach out to the Opposition after beating Capriles by less than two percentage points compared to Chavez’s 11-point margin of victory in 2012.
“I call on those who for whatever reason did not vote for the candidate of the fatherland, I offer you an olive branch, I will work with you,” he said.
But at other times he compared his adversaries to those who persecuted Jews in Germany and accused them of sowing violence in the wake of the vote in an attempt to snatch power.
In an embarrassing breach of security, a young man in a red jacket ran up to the podium, pushed Maduro out of the way and shouted “Nicolas, my name is Yendrick, please help me,” into the microphone. He was tackled by bodyguards.
“Security has failed completely. They could have shot me up here,” said Maduro upon resuming his speech.
Overnight, the 50-year-old Maduro attended a last-minute meeting of South American leaders in Peru to discuss the post-election crisis.
They congratulated him on his victory, and called on both sides to reject violence.
While he was in Lima, Venezuela’s electoral authority said it would widen to 100 per cent an audit of electronic votes from a previous audit that reviewed 54 per cent of the machines.