Caracas: Voters in Venezuela are choosing lawmakers, governors and other officials Sunday in polling being held against a backdrop of heightened government repression and opposition calls to boycott the election.
The election is the first to allow broad voter participation since last year’s presidential contest, which President Nicolás Maduro claimed to have won despite credible evidence to the contrary. It is taking place two days after the government detained dozens of people, including a prominent opposition leader, and linked them to an alleged plot to hinder the vote.
About an hour after polls opened, around a dozen voters were outside the country’s largest voting centre, located in the capital — a stark contrast with the hundreds who were already in line around the same time for the July 28 presidential election. An increased police presence was noticeable across Caracas, where squad cars with lights on dotted quiet neighbourhoods.
Voter participation, in the eyes of the opposition, legitimises Maduro’s claim to power and his government’s repressive apparatus, which after the July presidential election detained more than 2,000 people, including protesters, poll workers, political activists and minors, to
quash dissent.