Tension builds after Venezuela vote

Violence after polls closed in Venezuela's election late Sunday evening pointed to more uncertainty as President Nicolas Maduro seeks a third term in a race marred by harassment of the opposition and amid reimposition of US oil sanctions.

One man was shot and killed at a voting center and the main coalition of parties running against Maduro denounced severe irregularities during tallies after the vote.

The electoral authority (CNE) ordered some polling stations to stop transmitting vote counts to CNE headquarters in Caracas, opposition leader Delsa Solorzano said.

Solorzano also said opposition witnesses had been kicked out of polling stations and denied required copies of vote tallies.

"The transmission of results, of the tallies, has been paralyzed", Solorzano, the top opposition representative before CNE, said on social media.

Maduro has not spoken publicly since midday in Venezuela and he has not claimed victory. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, running in the place of blocked candidate Maria Corina Machado, said that he would defend the results.

Exit polls indicated that 65.8pc of voters supported Gonzalez, with 13.5pc voting for Maduro, out of 52pc of eligible voters participating, pollster Meganalisis said.

"The results are impossible to hide, the country has chosen peaceful change," Gonzalez said.

The election began auspiciously, with long lines since Saturday night, uneventful voting and heavy turnouts.

But nighttime brought some violence once rumors of Maduro losing the election began circulating.

In addition to the one person shot at a voting center, pro-Maduro motorcycle gangs threatened polling stations and opposition members and witnesses, and some ballots have been burned, opposition representatives said.

The US administration has said it would be prepared to provide guarantees for Venezuela's government leaders if Maduro loses the election and lets the winner take power.

The opposition also said this week that it would move to open the energy sector to outside investment if it takes power, and the sector faces massive repairs after decades of underinvestment in its infrastructure.

Maduro in the last days of the campaign touted energy plans such as signing an agreement to explore for and produce natural gas in the offshore Cocuina-Manakin fields that straddles Venezuela's maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago.

Gasoline and electricity shortages continued to plague the country with some of the world's largest oil reserves throughout the campaign.

By Carlos Camacho