Venezuelans will head to the polls on Sunday for the first presidential election in more than a decade after the opposition ended a boycott and rallied behind a single candidate in the hopes of toppling the current government.
“De facto opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has inspired Venezuelans to the point that both pro- and anti-Chavez factions of Venezuela want change,” Joseph Fumir, executive director of the Center for Safe and Free Societies (SFS), told Fox News Digital.
“But changing the president alone will not be enough,” Humile warned. “No matter who Venezuela’s next president is, Venezuela’s institutionalized criminal system will adapt and continue to function. Internal efforts are necessary but not sufficient to dismantle the Venezuelan threat network.”
“But regardless of Sunday’s result, it does not diminish Maria Corina’s achievement of giving the Venezuelan people another chance,” he added.
Venezuelan migrants commit brutal crimes as Maduro refuses to accept illegal immigrants from the US
Opposition supporters are backing Edmundo Gonzalez, who over the weekend held a commanding lead over incumbent Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. According to the BBCPresident Maduro warned that a defeat for his party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), would result in a “bloody catastrophe”.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores wave to supporters during the closing ceremony of the election campaign in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 25, 2024. Venezuelans will head to the polls for the presidential election on July 28. Current President Nicolas Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez are running for president. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
The PSUV heads a governing coalition that holds 256 of the 277 seats in the National Assembly and controls the Supreme Court of Justice and the National Electoral Commission. The opposition has been unable to unite behind a single candidate and parties boycotted the 2018 elections, accusing Maduro of making free and fair elections impossible.
Humir of the social media platform X posted polling data showing projected results based on low and high expected voter turnout, both of which showed Maduro receiving roughly half the votes as Gonzalez.
Harris failed to tackle ‘root causes’ of illegal immigration, former Border Patrol union chief says
Humir speculated that Maduro would have to either commit massive fraud to rig the election or make a deal to stay in power.
Protests on Thursday before the vote drew thousands to the capital, where Maduro said he only wanted peace and that his opponents were encouraging violence, leaving his opponents struggling to get their message across. State television did not broadcast any opposition rallies. According to the Associated Press.
and Reuters reported. Venezuelans living abroad have struggled to register to vote, with bureaucratic obstacles preventing all but a small proportion of voters from doing so in time to cast their ballots on Sunday.
25 killed in bus crash at popular tourist destination in mountainous area, investigation continues
Maduro took power in 2013 after succeeding Hugo Chavez as leader of the PSUV following his death. The party has been in power for more than a quarter of a century, and Sunday’s election could be a key turning point for the country.
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado hold up a photo during a campaign rally in Maracaibo, Zulia state, Venezuela, on July 23, 2024. Venezuela will hold a presidential election on July 28, 2024. (Raul Albordea/AFP via Getty Images)
“Against all odds, overcoming the massive geopolitical occupying forces in Venezuela, powerful criminal gangs and an entrenched kleptocratic regime…Sunday’s election could mark the beginning of the end of the most devastating political disaster in our country’s history,” Isaias Medina III, a former UN Security Council diplomat and Harvard Mason fellow, told Fox News Digital.
Click here to get the FOX News app
“If this happens, our country’s subsequent development and growth will be unprecedented, with allies and Western-oriented policies that correct the anomalies of 21st-century socialism that have taken root over the past two decades in the region’s richest country,” Medina said. “Like a city on a hill, a free Venezuela will shine again.”
