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Venezuela faces its first regional elections in five years. Between minor incidents and delay in opening the voting centers. 21 million Venezuelans were called to the polls.
This Sunday, November 21, the local and regional elections began in Venezuela. Chavista and opposition leaders called early this Sunday to vote for 21 of the 30 million inhabitants to choose 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 legislators from the Legislative Councils and 2,471 councilors throughout the country.
The first to make his call to vote was the two-time presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, who asked through his Twitter gutter that “millions of Venezuelans” express themselves “through that right to vote” that “belongs to each one” . “Let’s go out and do it thinking about our family, our community, our Venezuela,” he added.
Later, President Nicolás Maduro expressed himself, confident that Chavismo will win the elections again. Like his rival in the elections in 2013, he used his Twitter account to leave a voice message of almost two minutes. In it he celebrated the sound of “the victory target”, a Chavista tradition that consists of calling the vote with rockets with the first rays of the day. In it, I also share the elections with the bicentennial of one of the most important battles for the Venezuelan revolution of the 19th century: “we have the battle of Carabobo today, but with votes. Votes yes, bullets no ”.
Sunday arrived # 21Nov! The victory target sounds, the rockets, the heart beats strong. We are going to vote Venezuelan men and women, united out of love for the Fatherland, in Peace and Harmony. Vote to Win! Win to Advance! pic.twitter.com/lJzXAoADRB
– Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) November 21, 2021
Vice President Delcy Rodríguez exercised her right to vote in the morning, celebrating the return of the opposition to the electoral scheme since 2017. He affirmed that “they had taken another course, that of extremism and violence.” Rodríguez also recalled that “the vote is sacred”, stating that “that act of self-proclamation (of Guaidó as interim president)” cost him “dearly to the life of the Republic.”
The opposition candidate in the central state of Miranda (which houses part of Caracas), David Uzcátegui, used the same network to invite people to vote “with a lot of love and a lot of faith.” For him, this is a “day of hope” and of “victory” for Miranda: “The day where good will defeat evil” and “David will defeat Goliath”.
The only one to make an exception to the call to vote this Sunday, for now, is the former deputy Juan Guaidó, who had made a call the day before to “unify the fight to recover our democracy.”
A beginning marked by “isolated incidents” and little participation
From 6 in the morning, the opening time of the voting centers, it was assumed that all the tables in the country should be installed. However, as of 7:30 am only 75% of the voting centers were operational. At 11 am, 2% of the voting points were still missing, according to reports on state television by Pedro Calzadilla, president of the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The official mentioned that, in the first half of the day, there had been “isolated incidents” and “minor, as always happens.” He specifically referred to several blackouts in some polling stations in the Caracas area, such as in Petare, the largest favela in the country, located east of Caracas.
A low influx of voters was also observed in the streets of Caracas. Paradoxically, in Petare you saw more people queuing outside commercial premises or gas stations – with distribution problems in recent months due to fuel shortages – than in polling stations.
In this favela located in the municipality of Sucre, one of the five that make up Caracas, the opposition Carlos Ocariz voted, who was part of the campaign for governor of the state of Miranda to finally withdraw.
On his Twitter account he showed how he voted despite the blackouts.
WITHOUT LIGHT, SO I VOTED! How are currently part of our Valles del Tuy, Barlovento and the state #Miranda.
I invite you all to come out and participate, may our testimony for Unity be worthwhile.
Our state #Miranda vote smart! pic.twitter.com/aWhGTxf2NA
– Carlos Ocariz (@CarlosOcariz) November 21, 2021
“There is not much motivation”
The last three elections had also been characterized by low turnout, reflecting the lack of motivation due to lack of trust in the voting leaderships. The around 6 million Venezuelans who have left the country according to the UN, would represent a decrease of close to the 25% of the electoral roll.
“There is not much motivation in the population to vote as before (…) perhaps due to the lack of leaders who tell the truth. We have felt that leadership has fallen in the country and motivation has dropped a lot and, well, I continue to maintain faith, “said Hector Palma, a young Venezuelan carpenter, when voting.
Palma affirmed that he decided to vote because he is waiting for a “change” so that the electricity, water and food services reach the popular sectors “more opportunely”, as the candidates for the regional and local elections of both Chavismo and Chavez have promised. the opposition.
These elections are monitored by the European Union for the first time in 15 years. Election observers are present in a few thousand of the 14,400 voting centers.
With EFE and Reuters
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