Venezuela held a rehearsal for the July 28 presidential election on Sunday, June 30, in a day of “great participation,” according to authorities, which serves as a prelude to the elections in which President Nicolás Maduro will seek a third term.
“There will be elections here on July 28 with the great participation of you that was demonstrated today,” said the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, to the state channel VTV without specifying figures.
The day “gives us an incentive of what the great participation will be for the 28th,” said the vice president of the CNE, Carlos Quintero.
Long lines of people
The rehearsal, which involved 21.3 million citizens in 1,174 polling stations with 3,006 tables, began at 8:00 a.m. local time (12:00 GMT) and lasted until 7:00 p.m. (23:00 GMT).
Long lines were observed in several schools in the center of Caracas and some middle-class areas, although in other communities, also middle-class, they were desolate.
“It was easy, fast and safe. Voting for the revolution,” Alexander Rojas, a 24-year-old student, told AFP after taking part in the drill.
The young man highlighted the speed of the system at the voting center, which had tents with Chavista groups around it to encourage, mobilize and register their supporters who were participating in the process.
Others sought to know the electoral ballot and verify their data, such as María Calzadilla, 40 years old. “That she was active in the system.”
“How beautiful the people of all of Venezuela are,” says Maduro
Neither Maduro nor his main rival, Edmundo González Urrutia, who was supported by opposition leader María Corina Machado after her disqualification, participated.
“How beautiful the people of all of Venezuela are, everywhere they are mobilized in the electoral centers,” said Maduro in X along with a video in which he can be seen sharing with people on the street from his vehicle.
González Urrutia, for his part, led an event with hundreds of workers in Bolívar (south). His party, the Unitary Platform (PUD), reported that it would only have participation of a “technical nature.”
“The process works well,” the former CNE rector and PUD advisor, Roberto Picón, commented to AFP after voting.
Observed by the UN
The drill was observed by the UN, the Carter Center and other national organizations, according to Amoroso.
The electoral authority did not specify how many were members of these observation missions in which the European Union (EU) would initially also participate, but the invitation to the bloc was withdrawn after it ratified sanctions against 50 Venezuelan officials.
The atmosphere of the campaign, which officially begins on July 4, is marked by complaints of “persecution”, arrests and disqualifications of opponents, while the Government of Venezuela accuses them of being behind conspiratorial acts.
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