Caracas, July 28 (RHC)-- With the opening of most of the voting centers, the presidential elections in Venezuela began early Sunday morning, in which more than 20 million people are called to participate.
Hours before the start of voting, local media shared on social media images of Venezuelans waiting for the opening of polling stations, which began at 06:00 local time (10:00 GMT)
Venezuelans will have to choose between 10 candidates to govern the destiny of the South American country in the period 2025-2031.
In addition to the current president and candidate for the Gran Polo Patriótico (GPP), Nicolás Maduro, the right-wing Edmundo González Urrutia, standard-bearer of the Plataforma Unitaria Democrática (PUD), stands out.
Luis Eduardo Martínez, José Brito, Antonio Ecarri, Benjamin Rausseo, Claudio Fermín, Javier Bertucci, Enrique Márquez and Daniel Ceballos are also running for the presidency of the country.
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), from 06:00 local time, the 15,767 centers authorized for this process will be open "uninterruptedly" until 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT).
In total, 21,392,464 Venezuelans over 18 years of age will be authorized to vote at the 30,026 voting tables installed throughout the territory of the South American country.
To safeguard the security of the electoral process, more than 388,000 members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) and the various State security forces are deployed in the country.
This election day was preceded by 22 days of electoral campaign, in which each candidate presented their proposals and government programs in accordance with the provisions of the Venezuelan Constitution and electoral laws.
The CNE authorities acknowledged before the media and national and international observers the good performance of the process that they had been carrying out for months, whose schedule had been fulfilled by last Thursday at 86 percent.
Around 910 guests and observers from all over the world came to Venezuela to accompany the electoral process, such as the Panel of Experts of the United Nations, the African Union, the Carter Center of the United States and the Council of Latin American Electoral Experts.
Also in Venezuela are the former Latin American presidents Ernesto Samper, from Colombia, and Leonel Fernández, from the Dominican Republic, and special envoys from governments, political parties and others previously summoned by the CNE, from more than a hundred countries.
