The Venezuelan Supreme Court said on Thursday it will launch an investigation into the results and processes of the presidential election held last week, and will summon 10 candidates, including President Nicolas Maduro, to appear in court on Friday.

The decision followed Maduro's earlier request for the Supreme Court to conduct an audit and expert assessment of the election results. He said he was willing to be questioned and investigated.

According to Venezuela's National Electoral Council, Maduro was re-elected with more than 51 percent of the vote.

This result was met with resistance from the opposition. The United States, the European Union and some Latin American countries believe that the election results announced by Venezuela's electoral body do not fully reflect the will of the Venezuelan people and have exerted diplomatic pressure on the Maduro government to release vote tallies.