Venezuela’s electoral council announced Thursday night that it would audit the 46 percent the vote not scrutinized on election night in a concession to opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, who said he believes it will prove he is the president. “We are where we want to be,” a satisfied but cautious-looking Capriles told a news conference after the announcement. “I think I will have the universe of voters needed to get where I want to be.”
Capriles had demanded a full vote-by-vote recount but said he accepted the National Electoral Council’s ruling, which marked a surprising turnaround for President-elect Nicolas Maduro, whose government had a day earlier looked to be digging in its heels.The late President Hugo Chavez’s heir is being inaugurated on Friday and was in Lima, Peru, on Thursday night for an emergency meeting of South American leaders to discuss his country’s electoral crisis.
The meeting began late and it was not clear whether any of the continent’s other leaders _ Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff wields the most influence _ had pressured Maduro to accept the audit.
Capriles ducked the question when asked by an Associated Press reporter for his explanation of the concession.
Full Article: Election council to audit vote in Venezuela – PostBulletin.com: World.