CARACAS, Venezuela — Government supporters began filling the streets of Venezuela's capital early Friday to celebrate the inauguration of their leader, even as opponents greeted officials' surprise announcement they will accept an audit of the disputed vote that handed a narrow margin of victory to the heir of late President Hugo Chavez.
Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles said the audit announced Thursday night will prove he won the presidency, but officials appear to be confident there will be no reversal of the result when the count is finished — long after Nicolas Maduro is legally sworn in for a new term as president.
Still, the audit was a sudden concession from a government that insisted all week that there would be no review of Sunday's vote and took a hard line against the opposition that included allegedly brutal treatment of protesters. The announcement appeared to be the result of pressure from at least some of the South American leaders who called an emergency meeting in Lima, Peru, on Thursday night to discuss Venezuela's electoral crisis — and wound up endorsing Maduro's victory.
Venezuela's National Electoral Council said just before the start of the meeting in Lima that it would audit the 46 percent of the vote not already scrutinized on election night.
