Chavez gets another team as Venezuela's president

Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's socialist president, has won the re-election by a comfortable margin, thereby extending his socialist rule for another six years and denying the opposition a chance to end his 14-year rule.

Chavez polled 54.42 per cent of the votes after 90 per cent of the ballots were counted while the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles secured only 44.97 per cent.

The Latam strongman, who survived a cancer threat, will now extend his rule of the OPEC member state to two decades, though a possible recurrence of cancer still stands between him and his presidency.

"Today we've shown that Venezuela's democracy is one of the best democracies in the world, and we will continue to show it," the 58-year-old Chavez shouted

Chavez, a former soldier, who took over power in 1999, has become a symbol of anti-imperialism with his US-baiting and the cozying up with anti-US governments and states the world over.

An avowed heir to independence hero Simon Bolivar, Chavez has built a close connection with the common man with his anti-poverty programmes.