Venezuelans eagerly await the results of a vote that could bring an end to the one-party system
The results aren’t out. If candidate Edmundo Gonzalez wins over president Nicolas Maduro, it could cause ripples throughout the Americas.
Jul 28, 2024 10:04 PM
An Venezuelan resident of Brasilia, Brazil, with his face painted with the color of his country’s flag, is seen gathered with fellow Venezuelans on date of the nation’s president’s elections on Sunday the 28th of July in 2024. Eraldo Peres/AP hide caption
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Eraldo Peres/AP
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans eagerly awaited the results of Sunday’s presidential elections which could lead for a halt to the 25 years of single-party rule, despite the fact that certain polls were open for more than three hours after the date to be closed.
Presidency Nicolas Maduro, in seeking an election for a third term, was facing his most challenging challenge to date from a shrewd opponent: Edmundo Gonzalez, a retired diplomat who was unpopular to the public before being chosen in April to be an emergency replacement for opposition star Maria Corina Machado.
Leaders of the opposition were celebrating on the internet and in a handful of voting centers, for what they claimed was a massive triumph for Gonzalez. The hope of the opposition was amplified by the purported exit polls that indicated a substantial winning margin for Gonzalez. Exit polls are not permitted in accordance with Venezuelan law.
“I’m very satisfied,” said Merling Fernandez who is a 31-year-old employee at a bank as a representative of the opposition’s campaign left a voting facility in a area of working-class residents in Caracas to announce results that show Gonzalez nearly doubled the number of votes cast by Maduro. A crowd of people gathered around erupted in an unplanned rendition of the national song.
“This is the way to an entirely fresh Venezuela,” added Fernandez in tears. “We are exhausted of this oppression.”
Maduro supporters weren’t showing any indication of letting go But, they were not letting up.
“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 spoke in an event for journalists.
The polls were scheduled to start close at 6 p.m. However, over three hours after the deadline, some polling centers located in Caracas remain open while authorities were not able to speak. The opposition demanded an National Electoral Council to begin counting the ballots.
“This is the crucial moment,” Machado, flanked by Gonzalez spoke to reporters at the headquarters of their campaign.
The leader of the opposition Maria Corina Machado hugs supporters after she voted in the elections for the presidency at Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday the 28th of July, 2024. Matias Delacroix/AP hide caption
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Matias Delacroix/AP
Machado took care not to declare victory prior to when authorities announced results, but claimed she’d already received official ballots and they showed an impressive participation — exactly what the opposition needed to defeat Maduro’s oiled electoral machine.
Gonzalez was also elated Gonzalez was similarly enthused, and congratulating Venezuelans for this “historic” day, and encouraging supporters to “celebrate with dignity.”
In the past, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris offered her support. “The United States stands with the Venezuelan people Venezuela who voiced their opinion in the historic presidential election of today.,” Harris wrote on X. “The wishes that is expressed by the Venezuelan people should be respect.”
A handful of Maduro allies also projected confidence.
“The ballot boxes represent what the people of the streets have said over the last couple of months of campaigning” Maduro’s son and lawmaker Nicolas Maduro Guerra, said on X as night fell over the capital. “Victory is for all the Venezuelan population.”
In the absence any orders to close the polls the optimism of voters was hollow.
Voters began lining up at several polling places across the nation early on Sunday morning, and were drinking coffee, water and snacks for a few hours.
The outcome of the election could affect the entire Americas as opposition to the government and their supporters expressing their desire to join the migration from 7.7 millions of Venezuelans that have fled their home to seek opportunities elsewhere in the event that Maduro succeed in securing another six-year term.
The election scheduled for Sunday was arranged by the authorities to coincide with the 70th birthday celebration of the former president Hugo Chavez, the revered leftist stalwart who passed away from cancer in 2013. He left his Bolivarian revolution to the control of Maduro. However, Maduro along with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela are less popular than ever before with people who are blaming his policies for slashing wages, causing hunger, destabilizing the oil industry, and even separating families because of migration.
Maduro, who is 61, will be fighting against an opposition group that has managed to come together in support of a single candidate after several years of internal party divisions and election boycotts that have stifled their plans to overthrow their ruling political party.
Machado was denied in the hands of Maduro’s ruling supreme courts from pursuing any election during her 15-year tenure. Formerly a lawmaker she won the opposition’s primary for October with more than 90% of the votes. After being denied being able to run for president and opted to use the services of a professor at a college as her replacement on the ballot, however she was barred by the National Electoral Council also barred her from having to register. This is when Gonzalez was a political newcomer was selected.
The ballot on Sunday also includes eight other candidates who are challenging Maduro however only Gonzalez is a threat to Maduro’s rule.
After the election, Maduro said he would acknowledge the results and asked the other candidates to declare publicly that they will be the same.
“No one can cause chaos inside Venezuela,” Maduro said. “I acknowledge and will accept the electoral referee and the official announcements, and I will ensure that they are acknowledged.”
Venezuela is atop the list of countries with the largest proven reserves of oil, and at one time boasted the world’s most technologically advanced economy. But it began an uncontrolled decline shortly after Maduro was elected president. Inflation, oil prices soaring, general shortages and hyperinflation which exceeded 130,000% caused first unrest in the society and eventually massive migration.
Economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. seeking to force Maduro out of power following his 2018 reelection in a move that U.S. and dozens of other countries have deemed illegal just exacerbated the crisis.
Maduro’s message to voters in during the election was a message of security for the economy which he attempted to sell using stories of entrepreneurship as well as a reference to a stable exchange rate and lower rate of inflation. It is the International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy to grow by 4percent this year one of the highest in Latin America — after shrinking by 71% from 2012 until 2020.
However, the majority of Venezuelans do not see an improvement to their standard of living. Most earn less than $200 a month, meaning families are struggling to purchase essentials. Many people work as a second or third job. A basic food basket enough to supply four families for a month is priced at around $385.
Judith Cantilla, 52, has voted to alter the conditions.
“For me, the change to Venezuela (is) the fact that there are jobs available, that there’s security, there’s medicines in the hospitals, decent wages for teachers, and for doctors,” she said, voting within the largely working class Petare neighborhood in Caracas.
In another area, Liana Ibarra, a manicurist from greater Caracas began her the line around three a.m. Sunday morning with her coffee, water and a cassava-filled snack bag and was surprised to see at least 150 people in front of her.
“There was once an indifference to elections, but this isn’t the case now,” Ibarra said.
She also said that in the event that Gonzalez is unsuccessful, she will have her family members living within the U.S. to sponsor her as well as her son’s application to legally emigrate to the U.S. “We aren’t going to take it for granted,” she said.
The opposition has attempted to exploit the vast inequalities resulting of the crisis, during which Venezuelans left their country’s bolivar currency to exchange it for dollars. U.S. dollars.
Gonzalez and Machado made a large portion of their campaigns on Venezuela’s vast hinterlands, in which the economic boom that was witnessed in Caracas during the last few years didn’t occur. They promised that they could create enough jobs to encourage Venezuelans who live abroad to return to their home country and rejoin their families.
Following the polling place that is a church in the higher-end Caracas area, Gonzalez called on the army of the country to honor “the decision of the people.”
“What we observe today is lines of hope and joy,” Gonzalez, 74 said to reporters. “We are changing hatred to love. We will transform poverty into advancement. We will eliminate corruption to promote integrity. We will swap goodbyes for reunions.”
A poll conducted in April by the Delphos, a company based in Caracas Delphos revealed that around one quarter of Venezuelans thought about moving to the United States in the event that Maduro prevails on Sunday. The poll has an error margin of minus or plus two percentage points.
The majority of Venezuelans who have emigrated in the last 11 years have settled within Latin America and the Caribbean. Recently, many have begun to make plans for the U.S.
Both campaigns have stood out not just for the political movements they represent, but as well for how they’ve addressed the voters’ expectations and concerns.
Maduro’s rallies for his campaign featured energetic electronic merengue dancing, as in addition to speeches aimed at his adversaries. But when he received a lot of criticism from his leftist allies, including Brazilian the president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for remarks regarding the possibility of a “bloodbath” in the event of a loss, Maduro recoiled. His son had told Spanish publication El Pais that the ruling party will peacefully transfer the presidency should it is defeated — an unusual acknowledgement of vulnerability, which is not in line with the Maduro campaign’s victory-oriented approach.
The rallies that took place in Gonzalez and Machado led to people crying and sing ” Freedom! Freedom! “ as the two walked past. They handed the fervent Catholics their rosaries and walked along roads and passed through checkpoints for military personnel to get to their venues. Others recorded their family members who have moved to get an image of the candidates.
“We are not looking forward to more Venezuelans departing and to those who have already left, I assure you that we will try our best to bring them back and we will greet all of them with open arms” Gonzalez said Sunday.
Associated Press writer Fabiola Sanchez was a contributor to this report.