A woman wearing a mask votes at a polling station in a school in Caracas, Venezuela on Sunday for the country's legislative elections. Polls opened early in elections set to tighten Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's grip on power and weaken his US-backed rival Juan Guaido. Photo: AFP

A Venezuelan opposition candidate on Sunday won an election for governor of Barinas state, the birthplace of the late former leader Hugo Chavez, bringing an end to 22 years of Socialist party rule there.

The vote in Barinas, a rerun of the November race for the state's governor's office, will not alter the Socialist party's control of the majority of governorships in the country, but represents a symbolic victory for the fractured opposition.

"The triumph is for Barinas and all of Venezuela," victorious opposition candidate Sergio Garrido told Reuters.

In 2021, Argenis Chavez - brother of the former leader - had contested the vote for the ruling party but did not emerge victorious.

Instead, the Supreme Court ordered the vote be repeated after disqualifying opposition candidate Freddy Superlano. The decision followed an order made by the comptroller general in August saying Superlano was under administrative investigation and was disqualified from running.

The surviving Chavez subsequently pulled out of the rerun and was replaced by former foreign minister Jorge Arreaza, who competed against Garrido.

Garrido picked up 55.36 percent of the votes, while Arreaza received 41.27 percent, Barinas state representatives of Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) said in a message broadcast on state television.

The state has some 600,000 registered voters.

Arreaza conceded defeat in a message on Twitter before the official results were announced.

"The information we have received ... indicates that while we increased our vote, we did not meet our objective," Arreaza said.

People on motorcycles and other vehicles took to the streets to celebrate the victory, Reuters witnesses said.