MIAMI: A Venezuelan-born millionaire and evangelical minister was elected mayor of the town of Doral, a suburb of Miami, Florida, after a run-off vote following the Nov 6 election, officials said.

Luigi Boria, 54, defeated rival Frank Bolanos with 55 per cent of the vote, according to official results out late on Tuesday.

“I want to thank god for this victory, because he is the one that proposes and disposes,” Boria said at a victory event, the El Nuevo Herald newspaper reported.

Boria made his fortune through his company, TWC The Wise Computer, which he opened in Doral in 1989. He was elected to the Doral city council in 2010. Doral has seen its population of Venezuelan immigrants climb so dramatically since 2000 that locals have nicknamed it “Doralzuela.”

According to US census figures, the Venezuelan-born population in the United States has increased 135 per cent in 10 years, reaching 215,000 in 2010.—AFP