Chávez Triumph Brings Emollient Words From Us

The Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, yesterday vowed to push ahead with his self-styled socialist revolution after being re-elected by a landslide.

Returns from 78% of polling stations gave the incumbent 61% of the vote from Sunday's poll, a thumping endorsement for another six-year term at the helm of the world's fifth-largest oil exporter.

His challenger, Manuel Rosales, a state governor, trailed at 38% and conceded defeat, disappointing opposition militants who wanted to use sporadic irregularities as evidence of fraud by someone they describe as a fledgling dictator.

Addressing red-shirted supporters from the balcony of Miraflores, the presidential palace in the capital, Mr Chávez, 52, signalled continued radicalism. "Long live the revolution! Venezuela is demonstrating that a new and better world is possible, and we are building it."

First elected in 1998 and again in 2000, the former paratrooper has spoken of calling a referendum to amend the constitution to allow him to run after this third term ends in 2012. Sunday's turnout was said to be more than 70%.

He dedicated the victory to Cuba's Fidel Castro and took a fresh swipe at the US president, George Bush. "It's another defeat for the devil who tries to dominate the world. Down with imperialism. We need a new world."

However, in a marked softening of Washington's tone, the US undersecretary of state for Latin America, Thomas Shannon, acknowledged Venezuela's democratic expression. Speaking to the Spanish news agency Efe on a visit to London, Mr Shannon called for a thaw. "We do not want a relationship of confrontation."

Confronted with a tide of newly elected leftwing leaders, the US has extended olive branches to Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Ecuador's Rafael Correa. The US civil rights campaigner Jesse Jackson and the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington-based thinktank, urged an end to the war of words waged since the US tacitly backed a failed coup against Mr Chávez in 2002.

Iran welcomed the triumph of an ally who has cultivated ties with the Muslim world, saying it reflected Latin America's resistance to US arrogance. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group based in Egypt, also congratulated Mr Chávz.

Analysts said the challenge for Mr Rosales was to rally the opposition by trying to pick off chavista governors and mayors in recall referendums.