debut: 10/12/06
13,294 runs
"Today, Essequibo has a governor," Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told his supporters on Sunday evening moments after the country's results were announced.
Neil Villamizar, the candidate for Maduro's ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, received 4,720 votes, making him the first governor of Venezuela's newly created 24th state.
Turnout in the tiny constituency -- named "Guayana Esequiba" by Venezuelan authorities when it was created last year -- was about 32 percent, and Villamizar received nearly all the votes.
Villamizar, a Navy commander who regularly appeared in uniform during his campaign, will have no power over the territory as his position is symbolic.
But he told AFP Sunday before voting in El Dorado, one of the towns in Bolivar participating in the vote, that the elections were another step toward achieving "full sovereignty" for the territory.
"We are focused on this task: to achieve through peaceful means... the recovery of the full sovereignty of Guayana Esequiba, in peace, with harmony, through diplomacy," Villamizar added.
Neil Villamizar, the candidate for Maduro's ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, received 4,720 votes, making him the first governor of Venezuela's newly created 24th state.
Turnout in the tiny constituency -- named "Guayana Esequiba" by Venezuelan authorities when it was created last year -- was about 32 percent, and Villamizar received nearly all the votes.
Villamizar, a Navy commander who regularly appeared in uniform during his campaign, will have no power over the territory as his position is symbolic.
But he told AFP Sunday before voting in El Dorado, one of the towns in Bolivar participating in the vote, that the elections were another step toward achieving "full sovereignty" for the territory.
"We are focused on this task: to achieve through peaceful means... the recovery of the full sovereignty of Guayana Esequiba, in peace, with harmony, through diplomacy," Villamizar added.
