The Unexpected Turn of Venezuela’s Presidential Election
For the Venezuelan government, the atmosphere leading up to the presidential election seemed to be perfectly aligned in their favor. Francisco Torrealba, a prominent official within the ruling party, reflected on the Election Day experience from the electoral command center located in Caracas, the nation’s capital. As the clock ticked down to the closing of the polls, confidence radiated from the officials who monitored the screens displaying real-time data.
The monitors indicated a robust turnout from the party’s core support base in Caracas, a reassuring sign for the government. Mr. Torrealba noted that similar patterns were emerging from other long-standing bastions of government support across the country, which led officials to believe that a potent combination of enthusiastic participation from loyalists and strategic suppression of opposition votes would secure a victory for President Nicolás Maduro.
“We were calm,” Mr. Torrealba, a seasoned lawmaker and high-ranking member of the ruling Socialist Party, stated in an interview, reflecting on the atmosphere among government officials during the pivotal vote on July 28. “We executed all necessary strategies to ensure a resounding victory.” However, the aftermath of the election brought forth unexpected results that shook the government’s confidence to its core.
The official vote counts revealed a shocking trend: supporters of the ruling party, particularly those from the public sector and impoverished neighborhoods, had turned their backs on the nation’s leader in significant numbers, according to information gathered by the opposition. What was anticipated to be a triumphant election outcome instead loomed as an electoral catastrophe.
In Petare, a bustling area of Venezuela, election workers found themselves outside on July 28, unable to transmit vote counts from their polling station, underscoring the chaotic nature of the election process.
“We felt betrayed,” lamented a ruling party activist from Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, who spoke anonymously for fear of repercussions. “They promised they would vote for Maduro, but what did they do? They cast their votes for the opposition candidate.”
