VENENZUELANS VOTE IN ELECTION CHALLENGING MADURO’S GRIP ON POWER
(BBC) Venezuelans are going to the polls on Sunday in what has been described as the biggest challenge to the governing socialist PSUV party since it came to power 25 years ago.
Nicolás Maduro – who has been president since the death of his mentor, Hugo Chávez, in 2013 – will be running for a third consecutive term.
His main challenger is Edmundo González, a former diplomat who has the backing of a coalition of opposition parties.
Polls suggest Mr González has a wide lead over the incumbent, but as Mr Maduro’s 2018 re-election was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair, there are fears that the result of this election could be tampered with, should it not go Mr Maduro’s way.
Those fears have been compounded by the fact that Mr Maduro has told his supporters that he would win “by hook or by crook”.