Elections in Venezuela are developed with international observation, but with uncertainty

This Sunday, Venezuela elects governors and mayors with the participation of the bulk of the opposition, which breaks years of electoral boycott and calls for abstention, in a process that also brings the return of international observers after more than a decade of absence.

21 of the 30 million inhabitants are summoned to the polls to choose 23 governors and 335 mayors, as well as regional and municipal legislators, among more than 70,000 candidates.

Voting must be extended until 6:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. GMT), as long as there are no voters in line. The time period is usually extended and the results do not arrive until well into the morning.

In the early hours of the morning, some voting centers in Caracas had few voters and delays due to the low quorum of electoral witnesses, the AFP found, however, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Pedro Calzadilla, pointed out that “everything it is going as planned ”.

“Here is the opposition, the revolution, we are all present to exercise our right to vote,” Luis Tirado, a 57-year-old militant of Chavismo told AFP before voting at a school in the gigantic neighborhood of Petare where more are enrolled. than 8,000 voters.

These elections can serve as a new starting point for both President Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking the lifting of sanctions, and for the opposition, which returns to the electoral route with its sights set on a “transparent” presidential election in 2024, although the next year he has the option of a referendum to revoke the president’s mandate.

“It is Venezuelans who have to build a country, it is not Europe, it is not the United States,” said Tirado, dressed in a jacket with the colors of the Venezuelan flag.

“Let abstention decrease”

For Aura Hernández, a 67-year-old opponent, the biggest challenge is overcoming abstention.

“I hope that abstention decreases, we have to participate to be able to claim, if we do not participate, what do we claim?”, He said from a school in the capital’s Chacao area with small lines.

But the opposition returns fractured, weakened and without unitary candidacies in most regions, and it is “foreseeable that Chavismo will sweep away,” estimated Pablo Quintero, political scientist and director of the LOG firm.

The opposition refused to participate in the 2018 presidential election, in which Maduro was reelected, and in the 2020 legislative elections, in which the ruling party regained Parliament.

Both processes, amid accusations of “fraud”, were widely rejected internationally, led by the United States and the European Union (EU), which this time will accompany the voting with a mission of 130 observers deployed in the country.

The EU had not been working on an election in Venezuela for 15 years, as the Venezuelan authorities opted for “accompaniment missions” from countries and organizations close to Chavismo. Panels of experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center were also installed for this election.

“International observation is positive and important, it gives validity to the process,” explained Luis Vicente León, director of the Datanálisis polling station.

The EU is scheduled to present a preliminary report on Tuesday. Maduro has warned that the bloc cannot “give a verdict” on the results.

“Elections, not sanctions”

Target of international sanctions, including an oil embargo by the United States, the Venezuelan government has funds blocked abroad and wants to sell its oil without restrictions, as well as import gasoline, which is scarce in the face of the destruction of the industry.

Maduro, who maintains that these measures are the cause of the country’s many problems, made certain concessions such as promoting a new leadership of the CNE with the presence of the opposition, although it is still dominated by Chavismo.

“That’s how decisions are made: with elections, not sanctions!” Said Adosely Muñoz, 47, also a voter in Petare.

The opposition leader Juan Guaidó, recognized as interim president of Venezuela by fifty countries, although in practice Maduro exercises control, will not vote, according to his team, although he does not call for abstention on this occasion.

“There are no conditions for a free and fair election in Venezuela,” insisted the leader, whose position has the backing of Washington, his greatest ally.

Guaidó’s objective is a presidential election in 2024 or earlier, through next year’s recall referendum, which can be defined at the negotiating table in Mexico, which for now is standing still.

But faced with the divisions, the opposition must “organize and not start its campaign at the last minute,” insisted Quintero. “The opposition unites and Chavismo trembles.” (I)