Hollow Victory

Nicolas Maduro has apparently won the race to become the next President of Venezuela - but by the narrowest of margins with a 50.7% to 49.1% victory over his rival and opponent - Henrique Capriles.

The only slight caveat is that the runner up - Henrique Capriles - is demanding an audit of the result after claiming voting irregularities at various polling stations.

Now I don't carry a torch for either man - but if I lived in Venezuela I would be very wary of Nicolas Maduro - because he looks and sounds increasingly like a demagogic rather than a democratic politician.

Which is worrying because even if Nicolas Muduro is confirmed as President - it's clear the country is very badly split and that his own party has lost a lot of ground - and that instability may make Maduro even more unpredictable - a loose cannon in political terms.

Because this is a man who claims that former President - Hugo Chavez - appeared to him in the form of a little bird and also during the election campaign warned reluctant voters to cast their vote for him - otherwise they faced the prospect of a deadly voodoo curse.

So Maduro is - at best - a bit of a charlatan, even allowing for the fact that politics can be a rough old game at times. 

But the recent election is not the only worrisome aspect of the political situation in Venezuela - because the cynical manipulation of events has been going on for some time - going back to October 2012 when Hugo Chavez won the last Presidential election (by a majority of 11%) - then failed to take up office as he was dying.

The President's party were untroubled by this fraud on the electorate - it seems - because they were far too busy creating a 'cult of the personality' around Chavez which has lasted to this day.

For example, President Chavez anointing Nicolas Maduro as his successor - who stepped in as 'acting' President instead of allowing the Speaker of the Parliament to assume that role until a new election was held - as required by the country's constitution. 

Nicolas Maduro has also tried his best to inflame the political situation within Venezuela by suggesting that Hugo Chavez was murdered by 'foreign agents' - without a shred of evidence - in a naked attempt at stoking the flames of anti-Americanism.

What's called for in the present situation are cool heads and statesmanlike behaviour - though on past performance that seems unlikely to happen.

But the onus now is on Nicolas Maduro to rise to the occasion instead of whipping up prejudices and relying on visits from 'little birds' - to get across his political message.