Venezuelan Elections

[Stevicus]

Why Venezuela's presidential election should matter to the rest of the world

Venezuelans have a crucial decision ahead of them. On Sunday, they decide whether to give President Nicolas Maduro a third six-year term in office or to allow the opposition a chance to deliver on their promise to undo the policies that caused economic collapse and forced millions to emigrate.

apnews.com

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The future of Venezuela is on the line. Voters will decide Sunday whether to reelect President Nicolas Maduro, whose 11 years in office have been beset by crisis, or allow the opposition a chance to deliver on a promise to undo the ruling party’s policies that caused economic collapse and forced millions to emigrate.

Historically fractured opposition parties have coalesced behind a single candidate, giving the United Socialist Party of Venezuela its most serious electoral challenge in a presidential election in decades.

Maduro is being challenged by former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, who represents the resurgent opposition, and eight other candidates. Supporters of Maduro and Gonzalez marked the end of the official campaign season Thursday with massive demonstrations in the capital, Caracas.

The opposition parties have formed a coalition around Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The election is on Sunday.

The main opposition candidate wasn't even on the ballot, and she and her campaign staff have been targeted by Maduro's government.

The most talked-about name in the race is not on the ballot: María Corina Machado. The former lawmaker emerged as an opposition star in 2023, filling the void left when a previous generation of opposition leaders fled into exile. Her principled attacks on government corruption and mismanagement rallied millions of Venezuelans to vote for her in the opposition’s October primary.

But Maduro’s government declared the primary illegal and opened criminal investigations against some of its organizers. Since then, it has issued warrants for several of Machado’s supporters and arrested some members of her staff, and the country’s top court affirmed a decision to keep her off the ballot.

Yet, she kept on campaigning, holding rallies nationwide and turning the ban on her candidacy into a symbol of the loss of rights and humiliations that many voters have felt for over a decade.

She has thrown her support behind Edmundo González Urrutia, a former ambassador who has never held public office, helping a fractious opposition unify.

The Venezuelan government has been beset by economic problems, exacerbated by U.S. sanctions and corruption and mismanagement in their oil industry.

In April, Venezuela’s government announced the arrest of Tareck El Aissami, the once-powerful oil minister and a Maduro ally, over an alleged scheme through which hundreds of millions of dollars in oil proceeds seemingly disappeared.

That same month, the U.S. government reimposed sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector, after Maduro and his allies used the ruling party’s total control over Venezuela’s institutions to undermine an agreement to allow free elections. Among those actions, they blocked Machado from registering as a presidential candidate and arrested and persecuted members of her team.

The sanctions make it illegal for U.S. companies to do business with state-run Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., better known as PDVSA, without prior authorization from the U.S. Treasury Department. The outcome of the election could decide whether those sanctions remain in place.

The election of 2018 in Venezuela was considered to be a sham, and this one also seems questionable. But I guess we'll see.

 

[Stevicus]

Maduro is declared winner in Venezuela's presidential election as opposition claims it prevailed

The outcome of the polls will either lead to a seismic shift in politics or extend by six more years the policies that caused the world’s worst peacetime economic collapse.

apnews.com

The delay in announcing results — six hours after polls were supposed to close — indicated a deep debate inside the government about how to proceed after Maduro’s opponents came out early in the evening all but claiming victory.

When Maduro finally came out to celebrate the results, he accused unidentified foreign enemies of trying to hack the voting system.

“This is not the first time that they have tried to violate the peace of the republic,” he said to a few hundred supporters at the presidential palace. He provided no evidence to back the claim but promised “justice” for those who try to stir violence in Venezuela.

Opposition representatives said tallies they collected from campaign representatives at the polling stations showed González trouncing Maduro. Meanwhile, the head of the electoral council said it would release the official voting acts in the coming hours.

It seems that every election is being questioned these days.

 

[Tomef]

Why Venezuela's presidential election should matter to the rest of the world

Venezuelans have a crucial decision ahead of them. On Sunday, they decide whether to give President Nicolas Maduro a third six-year term in office or to allow the opposition a chance to deliver on their promise to undo the policies that caused economic collapse and forced millions to emigrate.

apnews.com

The opposition parties have formed a coalition around Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The election is on Sunday.

The main opposition candidate wasn't even on the ballot, and she and her campaign staff have been targeted by Maduro's government.



The Venezuelan government has been beset by economic problems, exacerbated by U.S. sanctions and corruption and mismanagement in their oil industry.



The election of 2018 in Venezuela was considered to be a sham, and this one also seems questionable. But I guess we'll see.

Election schmalection. Might as well vote on whether I’m going to have dinner tonight.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Election schmalection. Might as well vote on whether I’m going to have dinner tonight.

Finally somebody with their priorities straight.

 

[Estro Felino]

Maduro should kiss the feet of the elitist gang of warmongers who has been preaching war, war and war.
It's thanks to them, that the Venezuelans elected him again. Because they hate them more than they love Maduro.

 

[anotherneil]

Here's the latest on the situation:

Is Venezuela in crisis? Protests, election turmoil and fraud allegations

Tensions escalate in Venezuela with the opposition releasing what it says is proof of electoral fraud.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[Stevicus]

Here's the latest on the situation:

Is Venezuela in crisis? Protests, election turmoil and fraud allegations

Tensions escalate in Venezuela with the opposition releasing what it says is proof of electoral fraud.

www.aljazeera.com

The opposition candidates say they have proof of voter fraud. So, I guess we'll see how this turns out.

Venezuelan opposition says it has proof its candidate defeated President Maduro in disputed election

Venezuela’s opposition and President Nicolas Maduro’s government are locked in a high-stakes standoff as each side claims victory in Sunday’s presidential vote.

apnews.com

 

[LuisDantas]

From what I have learned, the ellection has indeed been quite the farce.

Lula has defended Maduro very often in the past, but this time he is understandably much more reluctant.

The best way forward involves calling for new ellections in the next few months, with a lot more external supervision and accountability.