Rio de Janeiro, 29 July 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Venezuela's authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, has won a third term in office, the Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Monday.

Maduro won about 51% of the vote, beating opposition candidate Edmundo González, who secured about 44%, the CNE said.

Ten candidates ran in the presidential election, with several opinion polls prior to the election placing González ahead of Maduro, who has been in charge of the South American country for 11 turbulent years.

Ahead of the vote, few observers inside or outside Venezuela expected a free and fair election.

In the run up to election day, numerous members of the opposition were detained and candidates critical of the government were not allowed to run.

A total of around 21.6 million people were eligible to vote, including those abroad. Venezuela's elections are won by a simple majority in the first round.

Maduro, who won a second term in 2018 elections widely criticized as undemocratic, has presided over an economic meltdown - including hyperinflation, acute goods shortages and a plunge in oil production - which has driven about 7.7 million Venezuelans to flee abroad, according to the United Nations.

He has also cracked down on the opposition, with UN investigators accusing the government of grave human rights violations, including thousands of killings by security forces.

Maduro was first elected president in April 2013 after the death of his predecessor Hugo Chávez, under whom he had served as vice president.

But, despite the economic turmoil and US-backed attempts to oust him, Maduro has been able to cling to power.