2024-08-06 09:37:43
Polling stations in Venezuela opened at 6:00 a.m. local time on Sunday for the crucial presidential election in which President Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking a third term, faces diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia.
More than 21 million people are authorized to vote, out of a population of 30 million, although experts estimate that only about 17 million people who are in the country and did not migrate due to the harsh political, social and economic crisis of the last decade will be able to do so.
The centres are scheduled to close at 6:00 pm local time, with the possibility of closing later if necessary.
Chavismo: acute crisis and 25 years in power
Venezuelans are voting in a tense election to decide between the continuation of Chavez’s government, which has been in power for 25 years, or the change promised by a united and hopeful opposition.
Maduro, 61, who has been president since 2013, is seeking a third six-year term as the country emerges from an acute economic and humanitarian crisis that has shrunk gross domestic product by 80 percent and forced nearly 8 million people to flee.
His rival is the former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, 74 years old, until recently unknown, who represents the charismatic and popular opposition leader María Corina Machado, who is prevented from running due to a political disqualification.
