July 28, 2024, 7:52 PM
July 28, 2024, 7:52 PM
Venezuelans voted this Sunday in a presidential election that could mark the biggest political change in the country of the last quarter century or extend a self-proclaimed socialist government for another six years. After the polling stations close, the first results are expected within two hours, although in the last presidential election they were only known in the early hours.
President Nicolas Maduro, 61 years oldis seeking re-election for a third term and thus extend the political project he inherited from the late President Hugo Chávez, for more than 25 years. Edmundo González, the opposition candidater The 74-year-old, sponsored by leader María Corina Machado, intends to wrest power from him, which he has held for 11 years, in elections in which analysts and observers see that the opposition has a chance of winning.
There were also eight other presidential candidates for Venezuela with initially minority popular support. There was a high turnout early on and it is now expected that in these two hours the National Electoral Council (CNE) will make the first counts and from 8 p.m. local time (9 p.m. in Argentina) will release the first official information.
Corina Machado assured that there were only incidents in 1,300 tables out of the 30,026 installed, but that was at the beginning of the election day. He pointed out that after midday there were still 12 tables with “some problems.”
Since 16:00, when asked by Clarín, the opposition was enthusiastic about the numbers they were handling unofficially. At least from two different provinces they had different numbers by Edmundo González Urrutiabut a wide difference over Maduro.
After midday, Vladimir Padrino López, Venezuela’s Minister of Defense, said that there had been no complaints in the first six hours of voting. “There was no incident worth mentioning. The day was peaceful and civil,” said Padrino López.
After the midday, Maduro said: “I don’t want any stains, the people are calm, at peace. Now the afternoon session begins, the finishing operation begins: 1 to 10, to 7, convince to win, motivate to triumph, organize to vote and mobilize, mobilize,” said Maduro.
In turn, from the Command with Venezuela, of the opponents María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, assured that participation until 13:00 had been 42.1%“We have seen how the centers are full of people in all the centers of the country. What we are seeing is an overwhelming participation and I feel very proud of being Venezuelan and of these generations of ours who, on a day like today, overcoming each and every obstacle, are making a dream come true,” said Machado after finishing voting.
There was activity in all the neighborhoods of the Venezuelan capital. Many arrived by motorcycle to the voting centers before 6:00 a.m., the scheduled opening time of the polling stations. Voters formed long lines early in the morning. and they organized themselves according to the tables for the queues on the sidewalks first and on the streets later.
The opposition feared that Chavismo would create obstacles with the machines used to vote, or with the ballots presented when voting. Machado also asked to go early because many citizens were changed from one polling station to another at the last minute.
