Venezuela elections: Opposition signals high turnout as country votes in crucial presidential election

Caracas, Venezuela
CNN
—

Venezuelans voted in a crucial presidential election on Sunday, but the country’s longtime dictator, President Nicolas Maduro, faces one of his biggest political challenges yet, analysts said.

Long lines began forming outside polling stations in the capital, Caracas, before they opened at 6 a.m. ET and continued throughout the day. Polling stations officially closed at 6 p.m. but remained open for people waiting to vote, although it was unclear when electoral authorities would announce the results.

Some voters in Caracas seemed optimistic about change.[After] “After 25 years, I think there’s a real opportunity to make a change. I see a lot of people coming out to vote,” voter Mariana Schemel said.

Some voters said they wanted to help their country, which has seen a mass exodus of Venezuelans fleeing the economic collapse. “I’m doing this for my children and grandchildren,” voter Amelia Pérez told CNN. She has three sons, one of whom lives in Washington, D.C. “I want my son to come back, and I don’t want my kids to leave. My whole family is already gone.”

Maduro is seeking a third consecutive six-year term after taking over from the Chavista movement after the death of his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2013. Of the nine other candidates running for president, his biggest rival is the United Opposition Movement, which has overcome divisions to form a coalition known as the Platform for Democratic Unity.

The opposition movement has maintained momentum despite continuing government repression, including the disqualification of its front-runner, Maria Corina Machado, from running. An avowed capitalist who has pledged to privatize several state-run industries, Machado has since endorsed a quietist former diplomat, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, to replace her.

The vote comes at a crucial time for Venezuela, which has endured a violent crackdown under Maduro and the worst economic collapse of any country in recent peacetime. Once the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, the country Latin America’s largest city has seen its economy shrink to the size of a mid-sized city over the past decade, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.

Tough sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union against the regime have failed to topple the populist president, who claims Venezuela’s plight is the victim of an “economic war.”

Shortages of basic goods and soaring inflation have forced some eight million Venezuelans to flee the country.

The Maduro regime controls all of Venezuela’s public institutions and has been accused of rigging past votes, charges it denies, raising concerns among the opposition that the election will not be fair. But experts say concerns about vote manipulation may be mitigated because opposition representatives are expected to be present at each polling station.

The opposition coalition reported minor irregularities on Sunday, but the voting process appeared to go smoothly in most parts of the country.

According to the opposition coalition, large crowds turned out to vote on Sunday. “We want to vote,” Venezuelans chanted outside polling stations in Caracas as they waited in line for hours to reach the ballot boxes. Abroad, Venezuelans in the diaspora held rallies in Miami, Florida and the Peruvian capital, Lima.

More than 21 million people are registered to vote both at home and abroad. The opposition coalition reported late Sunday afternoon that turnout was 54.8 percent, representing at least 11.7 million eligible voters.

“This is big news. If it continues, we will see historic participation rates,” opposition leader Machado said in a statement Sunday afternoon. “What you are witnessing is the most significant civic engagement in the history of our country.”

Machado’s statement also mentioned “issues” reported at some polling stations: “In our monitoring, there were 1,300 problematic polling stations entered by monitors. At this time, there are only 13 problematic polling stations.”

Machado said 18 of the 30,000 polling stations nationwide “could not be set up.” The opposition leader also reported that “the delays in the process and the scanning of ID documents cannot be justified for any reason. We hope that this will be resolved and the process will be expedited.” But Machado said these were “exceptions to the peaceful proceedings.”

Election officials have said only identity documents are needed to be eligible to vote, and the electoral body, the National Electoral Commission (CNE), said in a statement on Sunday that there would be no dress code at polling stations.

But in Caracas, a 55-year-old voter told CNN he was turned away by soldiers from a polling station because he was wearing cargo shorts. After waiting in line for several hours, Enrique Mendoza said military forces patrolling the area around his polling station refused to let him in because of his attire.

Maduro voted in the capital at 6 a.m. and called on people to respect the election results. His main opponent, Gonzalez, said the opposition coalition “will wait for the results of the National Electoral Council, but we also have ways and mechanisms to know how the electoral process is progressing today.”

According to the human rights group Laboratorio de Paz, at least 71 people were arbitrarily detained during the election campaign, most of them providing services to the opposition, and 12 online media outlets in the country were blocked.

The government has also placed significant obstacles on the way for millions of Venezuelans living abroad to vote, including making it nearly impossible to obtain passports or residency. According to data released by the CNE, only 69,211 Venezuelans abroad are eligible to vote in this year’s elections.

A limited number of election observers are expected to be on the ground, including a team from the Carter Center, a nonprofit founded by former US President Jimmy Carter, but several international election observers said this week that they would no longer travel to Venezuela to monitor the vote.

Latin American leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have called on Maduro to promise to step down if he loses. Venezuela’s opposition has also called on the country’s military, which has long backed Maduro and his predecessor, to respect the election results. The Venezuelan leader has said his victory would guarantee “peace” in the country.

How the military responds to the outcome could be a key factor in any scenario, but analysts say it’s impossible to analyze the military’s position.

“The military is absolutely important, but it must also be said that the military is very closed off. [and] “It’s very difficult to get information on what Venezuela is thinking,” Laura Cristina Dibb, Venezuela program director at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), told CNN.

CNN’s Abel Alvarado, David Shortell and Michael Rios reported.