Nicolas Maduro, the anointed heir of Hugo Chavez, won a very slim majority in the presidential election on Sunday, setting up the possibility of a recount amid accusations by the opposition of fraud. Justice First candidate Henrique Capriles did far better than the polls said he was going to, and the narrow 235,000 vote victory for Maduro raises serious questions about the validity of the vote given that the entire electoral machinery is in the hands of the socialist government. Reuters: The 50-year-old former bus driver, whom Chavez named as his preferred heir before dying from cancer, edged out opposition challenger Henrique Capriles with 50.7 percent of the votes in Sunday's election, according to election board returns. Capriles took 49.1 percent, a difference of just 235,000 ballots. Capriles, whose strong showing beat most forecasts, refused to recognize the result and said his team had a list of more than 3,000 irregularities ranging from gunshots to the illegal reopening...(Read Full Post)