Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has won a third six-year term, the country's electoral council announced just after midnight on Monday, with 51.2 percent of the vote after 80 percent of ballot boxes were counted.

Elvis Amoroso, the head of the National Electoral Council, told reporters that 44.2 percent of the vote had gone to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had been leading in polls.

(With input from agencies)