Venezuelans vote in election as opposition challenges Maduro’s power

Polls have opened in Venezuela’s presidential election as incumbent Nicolas Maduro faces his toughest electoral battle since he came to power 11 years ago amid an ongoing economic crisis.

Nearly 21 million people are registered to vote, with a reinvigorated opposition trying to end the 25-year rule by the United Socialist Party with the promise to end the decadelong economic crisis that forced seven million people to emigrate.

Authorities set Sunday’s election to coincide with what would have been the 70th birthday of former President Hugo Chavez, the revered leftist leader who died of cancer in 2013. Maduro, who took over after Chavez’s death, is seeking a third term in office.

Maduro, 61, is facing off against an opposition that has managed to line up behind a single candidate after years of intraparty divisions and election boycotts that torpedoed their ambitions to topple the governing party.

President Maduro’s main challenger is 74-year-old Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who was declared opposition bloc candidate after the main opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was banned from holding public office.

The opposition and observers have questioned whether the vote will be fair, saying decisions by electoral authorities and the arrests of opposition staff are meant to create obstacles.

Maduro – whose 2018 re-election is considered fraudulent by the United States, among others – has said the country has the world’s most transparent electoral system and has warned of a “bloodbath” if he were to lose.

Maduro’s government has presided over an economic collapse, the migration of about a third of the population, and a sharp deterioration in diplomatic relations. Sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and others have crippled an already struggling oil industry.Maduro has said he will guarantee peace and economic growth, making Venezuela less dependent on oil income.