CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 3 - President Hugo Chávez was re-elected in a landslide on Sunday night, as voting tallies poured in from throughout the country. But representatives of the opposition candidate contended that the results were tainted by irregularities.
With 78 percent of the votes counted, Mr. Chávez was ahead with 61 percent, compared with 38 percent for Manuel Rosales, the governor of Zulia State, Venezuela's electoral council said late Sunday night as it declared Mr. Chávez the winner. Thousands of supporters filed into the streets around Miraflores, the president palace downtown, to hear Mr. Chávez deliver a victory speech in the rain.
"Long live the socialist revolution!" Mr. Chávez yelled to the crowd, pumping his fist in the air. His supporters, many of them dancing, reacted by chanting, "Ooh-ah, Chávez isn't leaving!"
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