The Latest: Venezuela chooses between another presidential term for Maduro or a big change

Venezuelans are voting in a presidential election whose outcome will either lead to a seismic shift in politics or extend by six more years the policies that caused the world’s worst peacetime economic collapse.

Whether it is President Nicolás Maduro who is chosen or his main opponent, former diplomat Edmundo González, Sunday’s election will have ripple effects throughout the Americas. That’s because government opponents and supporters alike have signaled their interest in emigrating if Maduro wins the election.

More than 7.7 million people have already left the country. An estimated 17 million Venezuelans are eligible to vote.

González is representing a coalition of opposition parties after being selected in April as a stand-in for opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado, who was blocked by the Maduro-controlled Supreme Tribunal of Justice. For once, the opposition factions have managed to unite behind a single candidate.

Polls opened at 6 a.m., but voters started lining up at some voting centers across the country much earlier, sharing water, coffee and snacks for several hours.

Here's the latest:

Venezuela’s opposition is calling on authorities to close the polls and begin counting ballots.

By law, polling centers should close at 6 p.m. but they also must remain open if there are voters still in line.

At 6:11 p.m. opposition leader María Corina Machado took to social media to demand the National Electoral Council shut down the more than 15,000 voting centers nationwide.

“If there’s nobody in line, the voting booths must close,” she said. “It’s time to see how your votes are counted, ballot by ballot.”

Fifteen minutes past the closing time about 40 people were met by an armed soldier, a member of a people’s militia, and other members of the armed forces when they requested access to a voting center in the low-income neighborhood of Catia to witness the vote counting process as allowed by law. They were told they could not enter because people were still voting, yet no voters could be seen inside and the members of the armed forces and electoral authority representatives refused to close the site.

Minutes later, gang members affiliated with the government showed up on motorcycles to intimidate people trying to witness the vote count.

The gang members left minutes later as voters shouted “Leave! Leave!”

—Regina Garcia Cano

Former lawmaker Delsa Solórzano, representative of the opposition’s Unitary Platform coalition, says authorities have blocked her entrance to the National Electoral Council despite her accreditation. They have also blocked two other representatives of the coalition.

“We insist that it is not the same to make a complaint face to face as making it in a WhatsApp message or an email,” said the longtime politician known for her defense of human rights and imprisoned political leaders. “They don’t give a reason for this situation.”

Still, she said her coalition was optimistic. “We have a lot of reasons to smile,” she said. “What we ask is that they simply follow the law.”

—Jorge Rueda

An ally of the ruling party was met with jeers when going to the polls to vote.

In the state of Miranda, which includes a portion of the capital, some voters screamed “Leave! Leave!” when Gov. Hector Rodríguez reached his polling center.

Rodriguez is a member of the delegation that has represented President Nicolás Maduro in negotiations with the U.S.-backed Unitary Platform.

—Regina Garcia Cano

PARIS, France — The head of the UN Refugee Agency Filippo Grandi spoke to The Associated Press today in Paris about his hopes for Venezuela.

“Whichever the outcome of elections and of any political process, regarding negotiations for an agreement and internal agreement, I do wish for the Venezuelan people a return to stability and prosperity that they used to enjoy in the past,” Grandi said.

He also hoped for the restoration of good relations between Venezuelans and all members of the international community, “so that everybody can help Venezuelans have a better future,” he added.

– Megan Janetsky

Venezuelans turned out to vote on Sunday at a school in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, where some 4,300 citizens were registered to vote. In a nearby park attendees waved flags and shouted in unison for “freedom”.

In the northern port city of Barranquilla — where 387 Venezuelans were registered — the sentiment was similar. The president of a Venezuelan association in the city, Pilín León, told the press that voting went “quite smoothly.”

Several Venezuelans went to the embassy in Lima, Peru, to vote with flags in their hands and sang the Venezuelan anthem. 659 citizens were registered to vote there.

However, Venezuelan citizens cannot vote in countries like Ecuador. In April, Nicolás Maduro ordered the Venezuelan embassy to shut down in solidarity with Mexico after the police raid on its embassy.

Instead, dozens of Venezuelans chose to attend a religious ceremony in a church in the country’s capital, Quito. In the southern city of Cuenca, Venezuelans gathered in a park chanting for “freedom” and “democracy” in their home country.

– Gabriela Molina

Minister of Defense, Chief General Vladimir Padrino López, said during the first six hours of voting, “no incident worth mentioning has occurred. The day has passed in peace.

”The military chief asked Venezuelans not to share comments about alleged acts of violence in the surroundings of voting centers, saying that, “what appears on social media is not always true.

”The unitary opposition candidate, Edmundo González says that he trusts that the Venezuelan Armed Forces “will respect the will of the people". The military, in charge of logistics and security of the elections, is one of the main supporters of President Nicolás Maduro.

The president’s opponents have tried to unsuccessfully enlist the support of the military to force Maduro to step down from power, arguing that he was re-elected in 2018 in fraudulent elections.

Senior military commanders, including the Minister of Defense, publicly expressed their support and loyalty to Maduro. For many, the military would have much to lose if there was a political change in Venezuela after 25 years of self-proclaimed socialist governments.

The opposition candidate Edmundo González expressed his satisfaction with the massive presence of Venezuelans lined up since late Saturday night and Sunday morning at voting centers.

“Today more than ever Venezuelans are demonstrating that we are one people. What we see are lines of joy and hope. Today begins a day of reconciliation for all Venezuelans,” said González, surrounded by journalists, shortly after casting his vote.

“The democratic spirit of Venezuelans is more alive than ever, it’s time for change,” added the ex-diplomat. If victorious, Gonzalez promised to create conditions for the almost 8 million Venezuelans to return to their home country after fleeing compounding crises.

“We do not want more Venezuelans leaving the country, and for those who have left I tell them we will do everything possible for them to come back and welcome them with open arms,” he said.“To all the Venezuelans around the world, your strength and commitment encourages us. We are one people in search of freedom,” he added.

– Jorge Rueda

Maria Gabriela Chávez, one of the late president’s daughters, commented as she cast her ballot in a school classroom under the watchful gaze of Chávez’s face painted on the wall.

“Tenemos que ganar" (We have to win), she told AP of the advice her father would likely have given had he been alive today.

Sunday’s vote is being held on what would’ve been the 70th birthday of Chávez, who died in 2013 of cancer.

Chávez said she agreed with the decision, which seeks to stir admiration for her father’s legacy and give Maduro, his handpicked political heir, a possible boost in a tight race.

“Siempre mezclamos la familia con política,” said Chávez, who nonetheless plans to lay a wreath at her father’s tomb in a hilltop army fort later Sunday.

Judy Oropeza says when her sister died in 2019 she vowed never again to vote for the government that long employed her as a school teacher.

It was the nadir of Venezuela’s economic crisis and due to widespread shortages, Oropeza’s sister couldn’t find the medicine she needed to treat hypertension.

Oropeza was in Colombia trying to find work because her miserly wages weren’t enough to feed her and her son. “I came home to bury her practically,” she said, holding back tears.

Today, sitting quietly on a bench in Caracas’ iconic Plaza Bolivar, she acknowledges things have improved.

But she abandoned the profession she loved to escape hunger and still has to watch every penny of her $160 month in salary in the private sector.“ There’s peace now,” she says as a street sweeper collects the fallen leaves from the marble floor. “But there’s wounds that never heal. That’s why I vote for change.”

—Joshua Goodman

Key to Maduro’s chances Sunday is the strength of the ruling party’s ability to mobilize its base.

One strategy, known as 1 x 10, asks each Maduro supporter to recruit 10 of their friends and family members.

Asked Sunday about those efforts to boost turnout, Maduro campaign chief Jorge Rodríguez said “our machine is well-oiled.”

—Joshua Goodman

Authorities set Sunday’s election to coincide with what would have been the 70th birthday of the former president—one last effort by the ruling socialist party to gain an edge in the hard-fought electoral battle.

The former president and revered leftist firebrand died of cancer in 2013, leaving Maduro as his political heir.

In the January 23 poor hillside neighborhood where a mausoleum holds Chávez’s remains, supporters shared a cake celebrating the birthday.

—Joshua Goodman

The President of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council Elvis Amoroso says that 95% of of voting centers across the country are open.

The council set up 30,026 voting machines for the election.

Amoroso said Sunday he and other electoral authorities had a “clear conscience” about the work they were carrying out.

He said 100% of polling place workers were present at voting centers from the time they opened at 6 a.m.

—Jorge Rueda

In the working-class Petare neighborhood on the east side of Caracas, people lined up to vote hours before polls opened.

Judith Cantilla, a 52-year-old domestic worker said, “In the name of God, everything is going to turn out alright. Each person is going take their position and well, (it’s time for) change for Venezuela.”

She said the people were tired and that change for Venezuela is for more jobs, security, medicine in hospitals and better pay for teachers and doctors.

Elsewhere, Liana Ibarra, a manicurist in greater Caracas, got in line at 3 a.m. Sunday and found at least 150 people ahead of her.

The 35-year-old Ibarra said her aunt wrote to her from the U.S. at 2 a.m. to see if she was already in line.

With her backpack next to her loaded with water, coffee and cassava snacks, Ibarra said there used to be a lot of indifference toward elections, "but not anymore.”

Her mom’s 11 siblings have all migrated. She has not followed them, she said, because her 5-year-old son has special needs. But if González does not win, she will ask her relatives to sponsor her and her son’s application to migrate to the U.S. legally.

“We can’t take it anymore,” she said.

—Fabiola Sánchez and Regina García Cano

At least eight party representatives authorized by the National Electoral Council to provide oversight at the country’s largest voting center in the capital Caracas were being denied access more than an hour after polls were supposed to open.

Police officers linked arms around the door as the representatives showed their printed certificates that should give them access.

Marisol Contreras, 58, chief party representative for the Unitary Platform, said she arrived at 4 a.m. and was told she couldn’t go in to the elementary school.

People affiliated with the government stood at the door and indicated to them that all the necessary personnel were already inside.

Marlyn Hernandez, the voting center coordinator, said she didn't know why the authorized representatives were not being allowed in to the school where more than 11,000 people are registered to vote. The center opened 90 minutes late.

Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro says he will recognize the result of the presidential election and urged other candidates to publicly declare the same.

Maduro said after voting Sunday that “no one is going to create chaos in Venezuela.” He said “I recognize and will recognize the electoral referee, the official announcements" and that he would make sure the result is recognized.

He called on the other nine candidates “to respect, to make respected and to declare publicly that they will respect the official announcement” of the winner.

TOKYO, Japan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Venezuelans deserve an election “that genuinely reflects their will, free from manipulation.”

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo Sunday, Blinken said the U.S. will not prejudice the election's outcome and that the international community will be “watching closely” while urging all parties to “honor their commitments and respect democratic process.”

Blinken said despite facing severe repression, Venezuelans are showing “enormous enthusiasm” for the election.

He said the U.S. and the international community have championed the Barbados electoral roadmap agreement to restore political freedoms in Venezuela," even though Maduro and his representatives s have fallen short on many of those commitments.

Opposition supporters greeted presidential candidate Daniel Ceballos with shouts of “Get out! Get out! Get out! Traitor!” as he arrived to vote at a school in downtown Caracas.

Ceballos was a leader of anti-Maduro protests in 2014 calling for the president’s resignation less than a year after his election. He was imprisoned for his actions.

Ceballos lost some of his edge after he emerged from jail years later. Most recently, he surprised friend and foe alike by registering to run against Maduro with a rhetoric critical of the main opposition coalition which considers him a sell-out and a patsy for Maduro’s efforts to stay in power.

—Joshua Goodman

Clarisa Machado voted for Maduro in the working-class Caracas neighborhood of Petare.

The 74-year-old sociologist felt confident that the experience the government gained over years of crisis would make it better able to deal with difficult situations still to come, as well as improve Venezuelans' standard of living.

“We Venezuelans, when they knock us down, we get back up and that serves as experience to not fall down again,” she said.

—Jorge Rueda