Iron lady versus autocrat: Venezuela faces existential vote for president

By Anatoly KurmanaevFrances Robles & Julie Turkewitz

They arrived in the darkness, lining up across Venezuela long before dawn to participate in a presidential vote that represents an existential moment for the socialist movement that has governed the oil-rich nation for 25 years.

The country’s ruling party has done everything it can to tilt the results in its favour. And as the voting began on Sunday, there were already signs of problems. At the Liceo Andrés Bello, a voting center in the capital of Caracas. Finally the crowd erupted in a chant — “we want to vote!.” Over the course of a generation, Chavismo, as the country’s socialist movement is called, has shattered the nation’s democracy, presided over an extraordinary economic contraction unlike any seen outside of war.

The election, held on the birthday of the movement’s founder, Hugo Chávez, pits Chávez’s successor, President Nicolás Maduro, against the previously little-known Edmundo González, a former diplomat.

But González is essentially the surrogate candidate for María Corina Machado, a hard-charging former lawmaker who has emerged as the nation’s newest opposition leader, rallying people behind a promise to restore democracy and bring Venezuelans back home. When Maduro’s government barred Machado from running for office, her coalition managed to get González on the ballot instead. The outcome of the election is anyone’s guess, and the entire nation is on edge Maduro has a long history of crafting elections in his favour and even of inventing election results.

Polls and dozens of interviews around the country show high enthusiasm for González. Campaign events held by Machado have taken on the feel of mass pilgrimages, with supporters filling avenue after avenue, and crying in her arms as she passes through town, begging her for radical change. If González wins and is allowed to take office, he is likely to face immense challenges.