Polling Stations Close in Venezuela Elections

Most polls have shown that the incumbent president and candidate Maduro leads the vote intention.

Voting centers have closed throughout Venezuela Sunday, the country's National Electoral Council (CNE) confirmed Sunday night, after million citizens voted to elect president and members of the regional legislative councils in a festive mood as it has been the case for the past few decades in which more than 20 elections have taken place.

RELATED: What the US Could Learn from Venezuelan Democracy

The polls were due to close at 6:00 p.m. local time but those who are waiting to vote were allowed to continue casting their vote beyond the set time.

President Maduro already cast his vote early Sunday morning in Caracas before giving a speech calling on people to go to vote and rejecting accusations from the United States and its allies that his government is a “dictatorship.”

Henri Falcón, Javier Bertucci and Reinaldo Quijada are the opposition candidates who opted for the democratic way, unlike a faction of the opposition that called for abstention in favor of pushing for more sanctions, a military coup or foreign intervention.

Most polls have shown that the incumbent president and candidate Maduro leads the vote intention. starts with an advantage to win according to the majority of the polls.

Maduro held more than 30 mass events during the electoral campaign in the country’s 23 states where he presented the fundamental lines of the “Plan de la Patria” ot the plan for the homeland 2019-2025, a government project that received thousands of proposals from the Venezuelan people.

In that sense, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Tibisay Lucena, reiterated that the electoral agency categorically rejects the attempts of interference and sabotage of some governments in the region and assured that the vote will go on in a democratic and fair way.

@telesurenglish As polls open in #Venezuela and people exercise their right to vote within the country, several embassies have already held polls for Venezuelan expats. #VenezuelaDecides #TodosAVotarEl20M