Venezuela's Maduro Hails Bashar Assad Win in Syria

Caracas, Venezuela: Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro offered his congratulations Thursday to Syria's Bashar al-Assad for his victory in an election seen as illegitimate by the West and the opposition in Damascus.

Maduro said Assad's election win, giving him a new seven-year term, "reaffirms his leadership of the legitimate Syrian government," according to a statement issued by the Venezuelan foreign ministry.

Maduro, a staunch US critic who considers Assad an ally, "reiterated his strong condemnation of the destabilizing acts of mercenaries still going on in Syria," and denounced "voices from the West who have not recognized this election and instead want war to continue."

Last year, Maduro slammed US threats of military action in Syria -- threats that never materialized.

He also accused UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of helping to promote war in Syria, after he announced a UN finding that chemical weapons had been used near Damascus.

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Assad won nearly 90 percent of the vote in the war-torn country, according to official figures released Wednesday evening. Turnout was estimated at more than 73 percent.

Syria's main opposition National Coalition called the polls illegitimate, and both the United States and Britain voiced concerns, with US Secretary of State John Kerry saying the vote was a "great big zero."

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