Venezuela Votes for its Future in Historic Presidential Elections

Havana, July 28 (RHC) Millions of voters are being called to the polls today to elect or ratify the president who will lead Venezuela for the next six years, in elections that will determine the country's political future.

This Sunday's elections - like all the others in the last 25 years - have been marked by disinformation and attacks not only on the system of government, but also on the arbiter represented by the National Electoral Council (CNE).

In the Miraflores Palace, the seat of government, there are ten candidates seeking to occupy the presidential chair, nine of them from the opposition sector and the ruling Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking re-election and is running for his third consecutive term.

In addition to the current president, the representatives of the various right-wing parties are Edmundo González, Luis Eduardo Martínez, José Brito, Antonio Ecarri, Benjamin Rausseo, Claudio Fermín, Javier Bertucci, Enrique Márquez and Daniel Ceballos.

All of them will be represented by 37 political parties and movements from the entire ideological spectrum of the country, of which 24 represent the right wing and 13 the current ruling party, grouped in the Great Simon Bolivar Patriotic Pole.

The polling stations opened from 6:00 a.m. till 6:00 p.m. local time and may exceptionally remain open as long as there are queues at the polling stations, in accordance with the Organic Law of Electoral Processes.

A total of 21 million 392 thousand 464 Venezuelans over the age of 18 will be able to vote in the 30 thousand 26 voting centers and more than 15 thousand polling stations installed throughout the country, while 69 thousand 211 duly registered and authorized by the CNE will vote abroad.

This election day was preceded by 22 intense days of campaigning during which each candidate presented his proposals and government programs in accordance with the provisions of the National Constitution and the laws. The electoral authorities themselves, in front of the media and national and international observers, acknowledged the good performance of the process they had been carrying out for months, whose schedule had been fulfilled 86% of the time until last Thursday.

A total of 910 guests and observers from all over the world traveled to Caracas to accompany the elections, such as the United Nations Panel of Experts, the African Union, the Carter Center of the United States, and the Council of Latin American Electoral Experts.

Former Latin American Presidents Ernesto Samper of Colombia and Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic, as well as special envoys from governments, political parties and others from more than a hundred countries, who had been previously summoned by the CNE, also participated in the elections.

As part of the electoral program, the Strategic Operational Command of the Armed Forces has deployed more than 388,000 soldiers throughout the country as part of the Plan República, as well as 180,000 officers from the Police, Fire Department, Civil Protection and other security and protection agencies. (Source: Prensa Latina)