Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has congratulated Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro on winning the country's presidential race and urged the future Brazilian authorities to restore good relations with neighboring Venezuela, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2018) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has congratulated Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro on winning the country's presidential race and urged the future Brazilian authorities to restore good relations with neighboring Venezuela, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Earlier in the day, the Brazilian Superior Electoral Court said that Bolsonaro from the right-wing Social Liberal Party had been elected the country's new president, having secured 55 percent of votes, with 99 percent of ballots counted. His rival leftist Fernando Haddad came second with 44 percent of votes.

"President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro Moros sends his sincere congratulations on behalf of the government and the Venezuelan people to the people of the Federal Republic of Brazil on holding the runoff election on Sunday, October 28, in the course of which Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of the South American country," the president's message was quoted as saying by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.

At the same time, the Venezuelan government called on the future Brazilian authorities to restore respectful diplomatic relations with neighboring countries for the sake of the countries' people.

The Mexican and Argentine presidents have sent congratulatory messages to Bolsonaro as well.

"On behalf of the Mexican people and government, I congratulate @jairbolsonaro on his election as president of the Federative Republic of Brazil in a exemplary election day, which reflects the democratic strength of the country," Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri has expressed his desire to work on the development of bilateral relations with the newly-elected Brazilian president.

"Congratulations to Jair Bolsonaro on his triumph in Brazil! I want us to start working soon on the relations between our countries and for the well-being of Argentinians and Brazilians," Macri said in a statement.

The relations between Venezuela and other South American countries soured after May's presidential election in Venezuela and Maduro's re-election. Venezuela's neighbors along with other countries, including the United States, expressed their doubts over the legitimacy and fairness of the vote.

Bolsonaro, who was elected for a four-year term, will be sworn in on January 1, 2019.