By Deutsche Welle
28 Jul 2024, 18:29 PM EDT
Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado said she was proud of the high participation in the electionss of this Sunday, in which its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, disputes the presidency with the leftist ruler, Nicolás Maduro.
“In all the centers of the country we are seeing a tremendous participation and “I feel very proud. We are making a dream and a fight for freedom come true,” said Machado after voting in Caracas.
According to the opposition leader, by 1:00 p.m. local time, 42.1% of the electoral roll had voted, equivalent to about 9 million voters: “This is huge and if it continues like this, it will be a historic figure. It is wonderful. What is happening is very, very beautiful,” she said.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council has not yet provided estimates of turnout.
The elections will take place at 6:00 p.m. at more than 30,000 polling stations. The electoral roll is made up of 21 million people, out of a population of 30 million, but experts estimate that only about 17 million people in Venezuela will be able to vote.
More than 7 million Venezuelans have migrated in the last decade, according to UN estimates: “It is clear that if Maduro clings to power by force or violence, we will see an even greater wave of migration in a very short period of time,” Machado said.
But “a peaceful transition to democracy will not only mean that the exodus will stop, but also that many will return,” she said.
Machado, a 56-year-old engineer, won the opposition primaries last year but was later disqualified and was unable to run for president. However, he has campaigned intensively for González Urrutia, a little-known 74-year-old diplomat.
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