Venezuelans Vote In Presidential Election to Choose Hugo Chavez Successor

The people from Venezuela vote in a presidential election, called less than six weeks after Hugo Chavez passed away due to a massive heart attack. The Venezuelans head to the polls last Sunday to pick a new leader.

Mr. Chavez’s chosen successor and acting president, Nicolas Maduro, 50, running under the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, against the current governor of Miranda state, Henrique Capriles, 40, representing a coalition of opposition parties.

Capriles also ran against Chavez last October and lost. He lost to Chavez within a 10 percentage points of the longtime leader. This was considered to be a significant gap because this was the closest that any opposing candidate ever came to defeating Chavez during his term.

Electoral authorities say that voting has been going well and security level has been raised so as to secure the safety of the elections for the more than 18.9 million registered voters in Venezuela.

By 3 p.m. last Sunday, more than 68% of the Venezuelan voting population has already cast their votes. Many said that they had to travel by car or by bus to get to the different diplomatic offices to cast their votes and be able to elect their new leader.

Distant beyond Venezuelan borders, voters have lined up at diplomatic offices around the world. According to Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, more than 100,000 Venezuelans are registered voters abroad at diplomatic offices in 88 countries. In the United States alone, there are 37,681 registered Venezuelans according to government figures.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council says that 170 foreigners have been invited to witness the elections in Venezuela; this is in addition to the representatives from the national organizations serving as observers. The international group includes delegations from the South American Nations and the Atlanta-based Carter Center.

According to Maj. Gen. Wilmer Barrientos, authorities have detained 43 people last Sunday for suspected electoral crimes. But election officials say that elections were smooth without any major incidents.

Polls were closed at 6 p.m., but Barrientos said that polls where voters remained in line would remain open until the last voter cast a vote.

Source: cnn.com, bbc.co.uk