Voting subdued and turnout low in ‘sham’ Venezuelan election

Venezuelans voted on Sunday in a presidential election which the incumbent Nicolás Maduro looked likely to win despite having presided over one of the biggest economic collapses in Latin American history.

Early voting seemed relatively subdued in Caracas, even in areas where the government traditionally enjoys backing and where Mr Maduro’s red-shirted supporters have been out in force, urging people to participate. The main opposition coalition, the MUD, has called for a boycott of the election, saying it is a sham and that Mr Maduro will inevitably be declared the winner.

“The opposition can say what they want. We’re voting for Maduro, the best president in our history,” said 55-year-old José Graterol as he queued outside a polling station in bright sunshine in Petare, a shantytown spread across hills overlooking the city centre.

At another polling station, further up Petare’s winding streets, 51-year-old Jesús Rodríguez said he would vote for Henri Falcón, a former state governor who split from the ruling socialist party in 2013 and is Mr Maduro’s main challenger.

“We need a change,” Mr Rodríguez said. “Falcón was a good governor. We need someone who can tackle our problems — the lack of food, companies closing down — and with this government there is no chance of getting any foreign investment. The government has expropriated so many companies and the state doesn’t run them well.”

During five years in power, Mr Maduro has presided over plummeting oil production, hyperinflation, hunger and corruption. The economy has contracted about 40 per cent since he took office. He blames a US-backed conspiracy to wreck Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy, but has not provided any evidence.

Many of the leading opposition figures are under house arrest, barred from office or in exile and some voters distrust Mr Falcón and the handful of other little-known presidential hopefuls.

Some polls suggest Mr Falcón could win more votes — but most Venezuelans believe the government would step in to manipulate the result.

One, published by Venebarómetro on the eve of the election, suggested he enjoyed a lead of six percentage points over Mr Maduro. However, when the sample of respondents was narrowed to include only those who said they would definitely vote, the gap closed to less than a point. When people were asked who they thought would actually win, Mr Maduro came out on top.

Just over half of those polled said the elections were fraudulent while 31 per cent believed they were clean. Nearly 70 per cent said Mr Maduro should quit the presidency immediately and 60 per cent said his rule had turned into a dictatorship, a view backed by the US and many Latin American nations.

There will be no real election in Venezuela on May 20 and the world knows it

“The so-called elections in Venezuela . . . will be nothing more than a fraud and a sham,” US vice-president Mike Pence said in the run-up to the vote. “There will be no real election in Venezuela on May 20 and the world knows it.”

Many Venezuelans are looking beyond Sunday to what comes next. The US and possibly the EU could announce fresh sanctions within days, on top of those already imposed. The US Treasury on Friday added the No 2 official in the ruling Socialist party, Diosdado Cabello, to its sanctions list.

Mr Maduro might use his re-election to purge rivals within “Chavismo”, the movement founded by his late mentor Hugo Chávez. Alternatively, those rivals might try to unseat him, perhaps with support from an increasingly disgruntled military.

And US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out military intervention in Venezuela, although for the moment that seems highly unlikely.

“Trump should be in a mad house,” Maduro supporter Mr Graterol said, prompting laughter among the people queueing with him to vote. “If the Americans want to intervene let them do it. We’re ready and waiting. We’re Venezuelans. We’re fighters.”