Venezuelans went to the polls to elect their president on Sunday, but there are fears that because of his waning influence, incumbent President Nicolás Maduro, a communist strongman who has ruled the South American country as the head of the Socialist Party since 2013, might seek to keep his grip on power through election fraud.

via the Wall Street Journal:

Under his rule, the economy contracted 80% in a decade and nearly eight million Venezuelans fled into exile. The U.S. leveled sanctions that helped further hobble an oil industry long in decline. The U.S. has also sanctioned or indicted Maduro and other regime officials for crimes ranging from drug trafficking to corruption and rights abuses.

The hard realities in Venezuela have energized a once-fractious opposition on streets like Contreras’s, where modest homes and shanties of cinder block and tin jut out of a cliff like Legos. There are no posters for the man who is challenging Maduro—Edmundo González, a 74-year-old former diplomat—but inside people’s homes the mood is decidedly against the regime.

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Independent polls by Delphos and ClearPath Strategies this month show Maduro losing by more than 25 percentage points to González, who gained opposition support after the regime banned a popular opposition leader, María Corina Machado, and her initial handpicked successor.

With little information about González—state and private media in Venezuela rarely cover the opposition in a positive light—residents here aren’t so much planning to vote for him as against the regime.

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Some voters have found a positive sign in recent comments from Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, a close ally of the president, since Maduro needs the armed forces to remain loyal to him if the regime opts to steal the vote.

“Whoever wins, let them start setting up their government project and whoever doesn’t, let them go take a break,” Padrino said.

Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement, saying that the "will of the Venezuelan people" must be heard:

The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure…

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 28, 2024

The statement concludes:

Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure future for the people of Venezuela.

Earlier in the day, exit polling obtained by the WSJ appeared to show a wide margin of victory on its way for González, the publication's South American Bureau Chief, Juan Forero, posted on X.

He reported:

Edmundo González has a 64% to 31% lead over Maduro, says polling by Edison Research obtained by @WSJ

A firm that does exit polling at major American elections, Edison polled 5,464 Venezuelan voters in 100 polling stations. Edison does extensive work overseas.

Now, González's team has just released an unofficial tally of the results, showing numbers that are similar to the exit polling:

BREAKING:

The unofficial election results from Venezuela, presented by the opposition, are in.

Major loss for Maduro and his communist allies#VenezuelaLibre 🇻🇪 pic.twitter.com/nvBWGZfIlO

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 29, 2024

But the images/videos I found the most compelling coming out of Venezuela were those showing just how determined these patriotic people are to make sure their vote counts. Here, according to the post, one of the poll workers allied with the Maduro government is seen getting rescued from rightly irate Venezuelans, who just learned "there were 3,000 votes" counted before the polls opened

Translated from Spanish, these are the words written on the screen: "This is how thieves get out": 

WATCH as the Maduro regime retrieves one of their poll workers after Venezuelans discover that there were 3,000 votes already in before anyone was allowed to vote. pic.twitter.com/QquOXLmsEg

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) July 28, 2024

Here, people are alleging that polling stations are being closed early, and people are trying to break into the buildings. They seem ready to practically damage their own bodies to secure their legal right to vote:

🚨| URGENTE: En el estado Carabobo, en Venezuela están cerrando ilegalmente los centros de votación antes de tiempo y con votantes venezolanos esperando para votar. El tirano Maduro está haciendo fraude electoral pero el pueblo de Venezuela no se esta dejando 🇻🇪. #VenezuelaLibre pic.twitter.com/NacwEOr75x

— Eduardo Menoni (@eduardomenoni) July 28, 2024

Translated, the message reads:

URGENT: In the state of Carabobo, Venezuela they are illegally closing polling stations early and with Venezuelan voters waiting to vote. The tyrant Maduro is doing electoral fraud but the Venezuelan people are not letting him do it.

One woman interviewed by the WSJ (linked above), Yusmila Martínez, said this election will be "a vote of rejection" against Maduro, and that this is the first time she has ever voted against the socialists "because she was tired of corruption and mismanagement" that she sees at her workplace in the healthcare industry. She explained:

I’ve always considered myself on the left, but there’s nothing socialist about what Maduro’s doing.

The people of Venezuela need our prayers right now, for God's will to be done, and for the citizens to remain safe as they fight for their freedoms at the ballot box at this turbulent moment.

Related:

Biden Admin Lets Chevron Restart Oil Production in Venezuela

Editor's Note: A tweet was removed from this article post publication because it received a Community Note that the image displayed was not labeled accurately.