Venezuelans in Lisbon say election day is ‘very important’ for country

Venezuelans in Lisbon said “today is a very important day” for Venezuela, which is choosing between the succession of President Nicolás Maduro, who is trailing the opposition in the polls, and the election of Edmundo Urrutia.

“Today gives us some opportunity to express what we feel about Venezuela. There are many feelings of freedom, injustice, the desire to change something, but mainly justice,” said Elio Pestana to Luce.

Speaking at the Venezuelan consulate, a voter who was able to exercise his right to vote explained that many Venezuelans saw their right to participate in the electoral law vetoed.

“Voter registration is complicated, it only works a month before the election processes, this is not enough, because they create a set of requirements that affect registration and greatly limit voters. This is an issue that we have talked about a lot. Our diaspora reaches almost seven million people, of which five million were supposed to vote, and today only 68 thousand vote worldwide, this is not even 2%,” he emphasized.

Elio Pestana clarified that the Venezuelan Electoral Commission requires the presentation of an identity document equivalent to the Citizen Card, “even if the passport has expired”, “when this should not be the case” and “the status of the person in the country in which they are located”.

“This is what limits, but does not stop, people’s desire to come here,” he stressed, citing data from the 2021 census, according to which Lisbon has 530 voters.

By 15:00, 122 people had voted in the Portuguese capital.

According to Elio Pestana, people see in these elections “the need for change.”

“People cannot continue to live the way they live, they cannot continue to live in a divided country, with constant struggles between equal people, this must end. What Venezuelans want is to work and live in peace,” he said.

Wearing a hat with Venezuelan flowers, Brigmarie Thomas, who cannot vote because she is not registered, said there was “hope at last”.

“It could change everything. It could give people the opportunity to return to the country,” he said.

Brigham Thomas reminded Lusa that since Chavismo in Venezuela, “everything has changed.”

“After being the number one power in Latin America, we became the worst. The third most dangerous country in the world,” he said.

Christian Hohn, a former political prisoner, also said he believed “it will really happen.”

“We truly believe that today is the day when everything will change and we will finally return to our country,” he said.

“We have been fighting this battle for many years. We have a dictator in power who is holding on to the regime, and this is really necessary for us, for Venezuelans and for democracy around the world,” he added.

Today, Venezuelans are choosing between re-electing Nicolás Maduro or voting against the heir to Chavismo, who is trailing in the polls behind the opposition led by diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia of the Unitarian Table of Democrats.

In the context of an economic and social crisis, the election campaign was an all-or-nothing affair, with Maduro threatening a “bloodbath” and civil war if he did not win a third six-year term and the opposition promising to fight “to the end.”

The choice of some 21 million of Venezuela’s 30 million people will be split between 10 candidates, but the outcome is to be decided between Maduro of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, who replaced former leader Hugo Chavez, and retired diplomat Urrutia, who replaced candidate Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running by the regime.

In a country with a significant Portuguese and Portuguese-descendant community, the population lives with low incomes, inadequate and inadequate basic services, and degraded health and education systems.