Venezuela election: Maduro declared winner by government-controlled authority

Result with 80% of votes counted goes against opinion polls that suggested incumbent was facing defeat

Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of Venezuela's presidential election by the government-controlled electoral authority - a result that appeared to dash opposition hopes of ending 25 years of socialist rule and was immediately contested by his rivals and several governments in the region.

After a six-hour delay in releasing the results of Sunday's election sparked an outpouring of concern from South American governments, the national electoral council claimed Maduro had won with 51.21% of votes compared with 44.2% for his rival, the former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.