Nicolas Maduro was inaugurated Friday as Venezuela's president, succeeding the late Hugo Chavez, although a full vote audit was pending, DPA reported.
The opposition boycotted the inauguration, which was attended by many foreign leaders, including presidents Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Mahmoud Ahmadinajad of Iran and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina.
Former bus driver and trade union leader Maduro, 50, whom Chavez designated as his heir less than three months before he died March 5 of cancer complications, is to serve as president until 2019.
Official results pending the recount showed the left-wing populist defeated Henrique Capriles, the candidate of a unified opposition, by fewer than 250,000 votes or 2 percentage points, in Sunday's presidential election.