Venezuelans eagerly await the results of a vote that could end the one-party system

The results aren’t available. If candidate Edmundo Gonzalez wins over president Nicolas Maduro, it could be a ripple effect across the Americas.

July 28, 2024, 10:04 11:04

A Venezuelan living in Brasilia, Brazil, with his face painted with the colours of his country’s flag, is seen with Venezuelans in Brasilia during the nation’s president’s elections on Sunday, July 28 2024. Eraldo Peres/AP conceal caption

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Eraldo Peres/AP

CARACAS Venezuela (AP) (AP)– Venezuelans eagerly awaited the results of the presidential election on Sunday which could lead for a halt to the 25 years of a single-party rule, even though some polls remained open for more than three hours after the date to be closed.

the president Nicolas Maduro, in seeking an election for a third time, faced the most difficult challenge he’s ever faced from a shrewd opponent: Edmundo Gonzalez, a retired diplomat who was a mystery to voters prior to being picked in April to be an in-between replacement for Maria Corina Machado, the opposition’s most powerful figure. Machado.

Leaders of the opposition were celebrating on the internet and in some polling stations and claiming an overwhelming victory for Gonzalez. Their hope was further boosted by rumored polls from the exits that indicated a good winning margin for Gonzalez. Exit polls aren’t allowed by Venezuelan law.

“I’m extremely satisfied,” said Merling Fernandez 31-year-old employee of a bank as a representative of the opposition party left a polling station in the area of working-class residents in Caracas to announce results that show Gonzalez nearly doubled Maduro’s voter count. Dozens standing nearby sang impromptu renditions of the national National Anthem.

“This will be the way towards a brand fresh Venezuela,” added Fernandez with a sigh of relief. “We are all fed up with this system.”

Maduro supporters weren’t making any indications of throwing away the ball, however.

“We aren’t able to deliver results but we can display the face of our campaign,” a smiling Jorge Rodriguez the campaign’s chief of staff for Maduro was quoted in a press event.

The polls were scheduled to close around 6 p.m. But over three hours after the deadline, some polling centers located in Caracas were still open, and the authorities remained silent. The opposition called for the National Electoral Council to begin the process of counting ballots.

“This could be the crucial event,” Machado, flanked by Gonzalez spoke to reporters at the headquarters of their campaign.

The leader of opposition Maria Corina Machado hugs supporters during the elections for the presidency at Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday 28 July 2024. Matias Delacroix/AP cover caption

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Matias Delacroix/AP

Machado was cautious not to declare victory until authorities release results, but claimed that she’d already received copies of official voting figures, and they showed the highest turnout of voters -precisely what the opposition needed to defeat Maduro’s well-oiled election machine.

Gonzalez was also elated Gonzalez was similarly enthused, Gonzalez also congratulated Venezuelans for their “historic” day, and encouraging supporters to “celebrate with peace. “

Prior to that, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris offered her support. “The United States is with the people of Venezuela who voiced their opinion in the historic presidential election of today.,” Harris wrote on X. “The wishes and will of the Venezuelan people has to be honored.”

A handful of Maduro allies also projected confidence.

“The voting booths reflect what the people of the streets were saying during these last few months of political campaigning,” Maduro’s son, the lawmaker Nicolas Maduro Guerra, said on X as night fell over Venezuela’s capital. “Victory for the Venezuelan people.”

However, in the absence of an decision to end polls, their optimism was a hollow sound.

Voters gathered at some polling places all over the country prior to the sun rose on Sunday morning, and were drinking coffee, water and snacks for hours.

The presidential election could be a ripple effect across the Americas as opposition to the government and their supporters alike expressing their desire to join the migration from 7.7 millions of Venezuelans, who already fled their homes to pursue opportunities in the United States in the event that Maduro be elected to a second six-year term.

The authorities have scheduled Sunday’s elections to fall in the middle of what could have been the 70th birthday celebration of the former president Hugo Chavez, the revered leftist stalwart who passed away from cancer in 2013. He left the Bolivarian Revolution in the control of Maduro. But Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela are less popular than ever before with many people who blame Maduro’s policies for slashing wages, creating hunger, destabilizing the oil industry, and dissolving families because of migration.

Maduro 61 is fighting an opposition group that has managed to unite with a single candidate following several years of intraparty divisions as well as elections that thwarted their efforts to take down their ruling political party.

Machado was barred from the supreme Maduro-controlled courts from pursuing any political post for 15 months. A former lawmaker who swept the opposition’s primary in October with more than 90% votes. When she was barred from running for president by the Supreme Court, she opted to use an academic professor to be her replacement for the ballot, but her choice was rejected by National Electoral Council also barred her from being registered. That’s how Gonzalez was a political newcomer was picked.

Sunday’s election also includes eight other candidates who are challenging Maduro However, only Gonzalez challenges Maduro’s rule.

After the election, Maduro said he would acknowledge the results and asked all candidates to publicly announce that they will follow suit.

“No one will be able to bring chaos into Venezuela,” Maduro said. “I recognize and will acknowledge the electoral referee and the official announcements and will ensure that they are acknowledged.”

Venezuela sits on top of the world’s biggest known oil reserves and at one time boasted the world’s most developed economic system. But it entered into a downward spiral after Maduro assumed the presidency. The soaring oil prices, the widespread shortages, and hyperinflation that rose to 130,000%, led to a flurry of protests and later mass exodus.

Economic sanctions by the U.S. seeking to force Maduro to step down following his reelection in 2018. in a move that U.S. and dozens of other nations condemned as illegal has only exacerbated this crisis.

Maduro’s appeal to voters during this campaign is about economic stability which he attempted to sell using tales of entrepreneurship and mentions of an exchange rate that is stable and lower rate of inflation. The International Monetary Fund predicts that the economy will expand by at 4% in the coming year one of the highest in Latin America — after shrinking 71% between 2012 to.

However, most Venezuelans haven’t seen improvements in their standard of living. Many earn under $200 per month, which means that families are struggling to purchase essentials. Many have second and third jobs. A simple basket of staples enough to provide two families for the monthwill cost you an estimated $385.

Judith Cantilla, 52 who voted to alter the conditions.

“For myself, the most important thing about changing within Venezuela (is) the fact that jobs are available, there’s security, that there’s medical in hospitals, decent wages for teachers, and for medical professionals,” she said, making her vote count within the working class Petare neighborhood in Caracas.

In another area, Liana Ibarra, a manicurist from greater Caracas began her the line at 3.30 a.m. Sunday morning with her coffee, water and snack-packed cassava backpack, only to see more than 150 people in front in line ahead of her.

“There was an indifference to elections, but that is no longer the case,” Ibarra said.

She added that in the event that Gonzalez is unsuccessful, she will request her relatives at home in the U.S. to sponsor her and her son’s applications for legal emigration to the United States. “We can’t take this anymore,” she said.

It is the opposition that has sought to exploit the vast inequalities that have arisen due to the crisis, in which Venezuelans left their country’s currency bolivar in exchange to exchange it for dollars. U.S. dollar.

Gonzalez as well as Machado concentrated their campaign on Venezuela’s vast hinterlands, where the economic growth that was seen in Caracas during the last few years didn’t occur. They promised a government that would provide enough jobs to encourage Venezuelans who are living abroad to come back home to reunite with their families.

Following the church-adjacent site for a poll located in a high-end Caracas neighbourhood, Gonzalez called on the military of the country to respect “the choice of the people. “

“What we observe today is lines of joy and optimism,” Gonzalez, 74 reported to the media. “We will change the hatred of love. We will transform poverty into advancement. We will eliminate corruption to promote honest behavior. We will replace goodbyes with reunions.”

A poll from April conducted by the Caracas-based Delphos found that about 25% of Venezuelans thought about moving to the United States in the event that Maduro prevails on the election on Sunday. The poll had an error margin of two percentage points.

The majority of Venezuelans who moved to the United States over the last 11 years found themselves within Latin America and the Caribbean. In recent years some began setting their sights towards the U.S.

Each campaign has distinguished themselves, not only by the political movement they represent, but also for the way they have dealt with the concerns and hopes of voters.

Maduro’s rally rallies were filled with energetic electronic merengue dances along with speeches attacking his adversaries. But after he received criticism from his leftist friends like Brazilian the president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva over comments regarding the possibility of a “bloodbath” in the event of a loss, Maduro recoiled. His son had told the Spanish publication El Pais that the ruling party will peacefully transfer the presidency should it fails to win in a rare display of vulnerability, which is not in line with the Maduro campaign’s exuberant style.

However the rallies led by Gonzalez and Machado led to people crying and sing ” Freedom! Freedom! “ when the two walked through. They handed the devout Catholics the rosary, walked along roads and passed through checkpoints for military personnel to get to the events. Others recorded their family members who had migrated to catch glimpses of the presidential candidates.

“We are not in the mood for to see any more Venezuelans leaving and for those who have already left, I assure you that we will do all possible to bring them back to the country and we will greet their return with open arms” Gonzalez said Sunday.

Associated Press writer Fabiola Sanchez was a contributor in this story.