Polling stations open for high-tension presidential election

Some 21 of Venezuela’s 30 million people are going to the polls on Sunday. The vote pits incumbent Nicolas Maduro, who has spoken of a possible “bloodbath”, against the candidate for “change” Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

Ten candidates are in the running, but the election is reduced to a duel. Venezuelans are called to the polls on Sunday, July 28, for a highly tense presidential election. Two main camps are facing off: that of the outgoing president Nicolas Maduro, who has raised the possibility of a “bloodbath”and the candidate of the “change”, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Some 21 million of the 30 million voters are expected to go to polling stations open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with results expected overnight.

Polls show the opposition in the lead, but some observers say the fight is close. The regime, citing other figures, claims to be confident of victory. One hundred and thirty-five people have been arrested since the beginning of the year in connection with the opposition campaign, human rights group Foro Penal reported on Friday. Venezuelan authorities also blocked a Copa Airlines flight from Panama carrying a group of former Latin American presidents who were supposed to be observers of the election.

Heir to Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, 61, is seeking a third six-year term, while low-key diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, stepped in at short notice to replace charismatic opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was declared ineligible to run in the election. “The future of Venezuela for the next fifty years will be decided on July 28, between a Venezuela of peace or violence. Peace or war.”launched the outgoing president.

These words have “afraid” Brazilian President Lula, for whom “Maduro must learn that when you win, you stay (in power). When you lose, you leave.”. Sunday “will undoubtedly be the most important democratic expression of the people in recent years”Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia said on Saturday, inviting the “citizens to go to their polling station at the end of the day and see the clarity of the results obtained”.

The oil country, long one of the richest in Latin America, is bled dry, mired in an unprecedented economic crisis. Seven million Venezuelans have fled the country. Nicolas Maduro has invited them to return. The vast majority of those who remained live in poverty, with health and education systems in complete disrepair.