caracas: Voting has begun in Venezuela, with people casting their votes at polling stations on Sunday President election The result will be seismic displacement exist politics It could extend for another six years the policies that caused the worst economic collapse in world peacetime.
Whether it’s the president Nicolás Maduro who was chosen, or his main opponent, a retired diplomat Edmundo GonzalezThe election will have ripple effects across America.
Voting begins at 6 a.m. local time. The number of eligible voters is estimated at about 17 million.
Authorities set Sunday’s election to coincide with the 70th birthday of former President Hugo Chavez, a respected left-wing firebrand who died of cancer in 2013, leaving behind his political career. bolivar revolution In the hands of Maduro. But Maduro and his united socialist party of venezuela He is more unpopular than ever among many voters, who blame his policies for driving down wages, fueling hunger, crippling the oil industry and separating families through immigration.
Maduro, 61, faces an opposition that finally managed to back a candidate after years of intra-party divisions and electoral boycotts, thwarting its ambitions to oust the ruling party.
Gonzalez represents an opposition coalition after being chosen in April as a last-minute replacement for opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Machado is prohibited from running for any public office.
Former congressman Machado swept the opposition October primary with more than 90% of the vote. After she was barred from running for president, she chose a university professor as her replacement, but the National Electoral Commission also banned her from registering. That’s when political newcomer Gonzalez was drafted.
Sunday’s vote featured eight other candidates challenging Maduro, but only Gonzalez threatens Maduro’s rule.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and was once known as Latin America’s most developed economy. But with Maduro at the helm, it began a free fall. Plunging oil prices, widespread shortages and hyperinflation that soared more than 130,000% led first to social unrest and then to mass migration.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to force Maduro from power after he was re-elected in 2018, while the United States and dozens of other countries have denounced such sanctions as illegal and only deepening the crisis.
Maduro has traveled across Venezuela in recent days, inaugurating hospital wards and highways and visiting rural areas he has not visited in years. His sell to voters is economic security, which he emphasizes with entrepreneurial stories as well as stable currency exchange and low inflation.
After the epidemic, business activities in the capital Caracas increased. The International Monetary Fund predicts that the country’s economy will grow by 4% this year, making it one of the fastest growing countries in Latin America. The economy shrank by 71% from 2012 to 2020.
“They tried to conquer our people, but today we hold our heads high and are ready for victory on July 28,” Maduro said of the United States at a closing rally in Caracas on Thursday.
But the quality of life for most Venezuelans has not improved in any way. Many people earn less than $200 a month, meaning families struggle to afford necessities. Some people work second and third jobs. A basket of basic staples — enough to feed a family of four for a month — costs an estimated $385.
The opposition has sought to exploit the vast inequalities caused by the crisis, during which Venezuelans abandoned their national currency, the bolivar, in favor of the U.S. dollar.
Gonzalez and Machado have focused their campaigns on Venezuela’s vast hinterland, where Caracas’s economic activity has not materialized in recent years. They promised that the government would create enough jobs to attract Venezuelans living abroad to return home to reunite with their families.
An April poll by Caracas-based Delphos showed that about a quarter of Venezuelans were considering emigrating if Maduro won on Sunday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Most Venezuelans who immigrated in the past 11 years have settled in Latin America and the Caribbean. In recent years, many people have begun to turn their attention to the United States.
What’s remarkable about both campaigns is not just the political movements they represent, but also how they address voters’ hopes and fears.
Maduro’s campaign rallies have featured boisterous electronic merengue dancing and speeches attacking his opponents. But Maduro backed down after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was criticized by left-wing allies for comments about a “massacre” if he lost. . His son told Spanish newspaper El Pais they would peacefully hand over the presidency if the ruling party failed – a rare admission of vulnerability that was at odds with the triumphalist tone of Maduro’s campaign.
In contrast, rallies for Gonzalez and Machado prompted people to chant “Freedom! Freedom!” as the two men passed. People presented rosaries to devout Catholics, walked along highways and passed military checkpoints on their way to the event. Others make video calls to relatives who have moved abroad to let them see the candidates.
At a rally in mid-May, Gonzalez, 74, asked supporters to imagine “a country where our airports and borders are filled with children going home.”
Whether it’s the president Nicolás Maduro who was chosen, or his main opponent, a retired diplomat Edmundo GonzalezThe election will have ripple effects across America.
Voting begins at 6 a.m. local time. The number of eligible voters is estimated at about 17 million.
Authorities set Sunday’s election to coincide with the 70th birthday of former President Hugo Chavez, a respected left-wing firebrand who died of cancer in 2013, leaving behind his political career. bolivar revolution In the hands of Maduro. But Maduro and his united socialist party of venezuela He is more unpopular than ever among many voters, who blame his policies for driving down wages, fueling hunger, crippling the oil industry and separating families through immigration.
Maduro, 61, faces an opposition that finally managed to back a candidate after years of intra-party divisions and electoral boycotts, thwarting its ambitions to oust the ruling party.
Gonzalez represents an opposition coalition after being chosen in April as a last-minute replacement for opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Machado is prohibited from running for any public office.
Former congressman Machado swept the opposition October primary with more than 90% of the vote. After she was barred from running for president, she chose a university professor as her replacement, but the National Electoral Commission also banned her from registering. That’s when political newcomer Gonzalez was drafted.
Sunday’s vote featured eight other candidates challenging Maduro, but only Gonzalez threatens Maduro’s rule.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and was once known as Latin America’s most developed economy. But with Maduro at the helm, it began a free fall. Plunging oil prices, widespread shortages and hyperinflation that soared more than 130,000% led first to social unrest and then to mass migration.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to force Maduro from power after he was re-elected in 2018, while the United States and dozens of other countries have denounced such sanctions as illegal and only deepening the crisis.
Maduro has traveled across Venezuela in recent days, inaugurating hospital wards and highways and visiting rural areas he has not visited in years. His sell to voters is economic security, which he emphasizes with entrepreneurial stories as well as stable currency exchange and low inflation.
After the epidemic, business activities in the capital Caracas increased. The International Monetary Fund predicts that the country’s economy will grow by 4% this year, making it one of the fastest growing countries in Latin America. The economy shrank by 71% from 2012 to 2020.
“They tried to conquer our people, but today we hold our heads high and are ready for victory on July 28,” Maduro said of the United States at a closing rally in Caracas on Thursday.
But the quality of life for most Venezuelans has not improved in any way. Many people earn less than $200 a month, meaning families struggle to afford necessities. Some people work second and third jobs. A basket of basic staples — enough to feed a family of four for a month — costs an estimated $385.
The opposition has sought to exploit the vast inequalities caused by the crisis, during which Venezuelans abandoned their national currency, the bolivar, in favor of the U.S. dollar.
Gonzalez and Machado have focused their campaigns on Venezuela’s vast hinterland, where Caracas’s economic activity has not materialized in recent years. They promised that the government would create enough jobs to attract Venezuelans living abroad to return home to reunite with their families.
An April poll by Caracas-based Delphos showed that about a quarter of Venezuelans were considering emigrating if Maduro won on Sunday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Most Venezuelans who immigrated in the past 11 years have settled in Latin America and the Caribbean. In recent years, many people have begun to turn their attention to the United States.
What’s remarkable about both campaigns is not just the political movements they represent, but also how they address voters’ hopes and fears.
Maduro’s campaign rallies have featured boisterous electronic merengue dancing and speeches attacking his opponents. But Maduro backed down after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was criticized by left-wing allies for comments about a “massacre” if he lost. . His son told Spanish newspaper El Pais they would peacefully hand over the presidency if the ruling party failed – a rare admission of vulnerability that was at odds with the triumphalist tone of Maduro’s campaign.
In contrast, rallies for Gonzalez and Machado prompted people to chant “Freedom! Freedom!” as the two men passed. People presented rosaries to devout Catholics, walked along highways and passed military checkpoints on their way to the event. Others make video calls to relatives who have moved abroad to let them see the candidates.
At a rally in mid-May, Gonzalez, 74, asked supporters to imagine “a country where our airports and borders are filled with children going home.”
