Venezuela’s electoral colleges are open to re-confirming Maduro or electing a new president

The electoral colleges of Venezuela opened their doors at 6am (in the Basque Country) to hold decisive elections that will Nicholas Maduro as president or change him for Edmundo Gonzalez.

A victory for González would open the doors of the Miraflores Palace to the opposition, 25 years after the triumph of the Bolivarian Revolution of Hugo Chávez, who ruled the country for fourteen years until his death in 2013. Today, he would have turned 70.

According to what was established by the National Electoral Council (CNE), several of the 15,767 centres that made this process possible opened at the scheduled time, pending the first report from the electoral authorities to know what percentage of opening was achieved, as well as the first incidents.

Venezuelans have reported long lines outside polling stations in several regions of the country’s interior via social media, with voters in some regions having been queuing since Saturday night.

The regulations stipulate that the more than 30,000 polling stations will be open continuously for twelve hours and will continue to operate until voters are in line.

The president, a candidate for re-election, has promised free and fair elections in which “the law, the institutions, the will and national sovereignty will prevail” at the end of what he predicts will be a “blessed” election day, “of peace and tranquility”.

Twenty minutes before the polls opened, Maduro celebrated what he described as “the beautiful day of Chávez, of the people, of the Bolivarian Revolution and of the victory of peace.” “At the touch of Diana of Carabobo, we go to the polling stations. Let’s vote, Venezuela!” he demanded.

A few minutes earlier the opposition leader Maria Corina Machadodisqualified by the National Electoral Council, has called for voting “with strength, joy and conviction” and has expressed her wish that the “national anthem would be heard all over the world”. “We are going to achieve it”, he assured in X.

1,280 Venezuelans urged to vote in Bilbao electoral college

On the other hand, 1,280 Venezuelan citizens living in the Basque Country and neighboring areas are being called to vote tomorrow at the Bilbao polling station.

The Venezuelan platform denounces that in reality there should be 25,000, and asks for the support of the international community to guarantee the counting of the votes and guarantee the outcome of the elections.