Maduro and González Urrutia call for voting before the closing of polling stations

The two main candidates for the Presidency of Venezuela, the official Nicolas Maduro and the opponent Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiamade a final call to vote on Sunday, before the 15,797 polling stations close at 6:00 p.m. local time (10:00 p.m. GMT), provided that there are no voters in line, in which case, the closing time is extended.

“Venezuelans, we have one hour left to participate in this electoral party. If you have not yet voted, go out and vote, the future depends on you,” González Urrutia said in a short video posted on the social network X.

Likewise, the president and candidate for re-election, Nicolás Maduro, asked people to go out and vote and thus end the electoral day “in peace.” “There is one hour left to go and vote, so that the 1x10x7 (mobilization strategy) works, finishing off this good, good, extraordinary day (…) So let’s finish the job in peace, July 28, go out and vote so that you can crown peace with victory.”Maduro said in a video posted on the same social network.

The president called on his supporters on Sunday to carry out a “finishing operation” to mobilize voters in support of his re-election bid.

In an audio broadcast by the state channel Venezolana de Televisión, Maduro asked the coalition of political parties that support him to begin this operation “now in the afternoon as planned.” “The finishing operation has arrived to consolidate peace, the victory of peace (…), we are going to the finishing operation as we know how to do, for the independence of this country,” said the president, who asked the members of the various social programs to heed this call, including the beneficiaries of a bag of food subsidized by the Government.

For his part, González Urrutia, the candidate of the largest opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – warned on the social network X that “false data is circulating that violates the law,” while expressing that, from the anti-Chavez bloc, they are “respectful of the norm” and “very calmly await the election results.”

In these elections, in which ten candidates are competing, Maduro seeks to continue the legacy of Chavismo, in power since 1999, while González Urrutia is running for office for the first time.