Rio DE JANEIROcColor:> Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, was expected to face a strong challenge from opposition candidate Edmundo González in Sunday’s presidential election.
Maduro, a Socialist, is seeking a third term in office.
Ten candidates are running. Several opinion polls have placed González ahead of Maduro, who has been in charge of the South American country for 11 turbulent years.
But few observers inside or outside Venezuela expect a free and fair election when voters go to the polls. A total of around 21.6 million people are eligible to vote, including those abroad. Venezuela’s elections are won by a simple majority in the first round.
Maduro, who won a second term in 2018 elections widely criticized as undemocratic, has presided over an economic meltdown - including hyperinflation, acute goods shortages and a plunge in oil production - which has driven about 7.7 million Venezuelans to flee abroad, according to the United Nations. He has also cracked down on the opposition, with UN investigators accusing the government of grave human rights violations, including thousands of killings by security forces. (DPA)