The electoral campaign for the presidential elections in Venezuela will close today in full swing for both the ruling party and the opposition after an intense 22 days, characterised by the people meeting their candidates.
At midnight on Thursday, the time set by the National Electoral Council (CNE) for the 10 candidates, nine from the opposition and the ruling Nicolás Maduro, to tour each state of the country, present their government programmes and go to the media, ends.
As announced since 20 July, the capital will become a whirlwind of people from 10:00 local time with hundreds of thousands of people mobilised in different parts of Greater Caracas until 22:00.
Nahum Fernández, a member of the Comando de Campaña Venezuela Nuestra Siglo XXI, told the press yesterday that the people will come down from everywhere to seal «all this emotion and emotion that reflects the combative spirit of the Venezuelan affirmative».
«It will be a great mobilisation, as never seen before», assured the member of the leadership of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and announced that the day will be accompanied by different artistic events such as music and circus shows, theatre and traditional games.
The National Institute of Land Transport reported the temporary closure, from yesterday afternoon, of eight major avenues in the capital to ensure what they called the «Toma de la Gran Caracas» (Takeover of Greater Caracas).
Commenting on the campaign of the Gran Polo Patriotico candidate, Fernandez said that they visited more than 270 cities and towns in all the states of the country, where they were received by hundreds of thousands of supporters.
The president closed his tours of the regions the day before with mass rallies in Yaracuy, Portuguesa and Lara, all in the northwest, and affirmed that «you can see and feel in these lands that on 28 July Maduro is President».
He also predicted that Sunday’s victory will astonish the world and will be «the most beautiful and biggest electoral victory in the electoral history of Venezuela».
Foreign Minister Yván Gil yesterday welcomed international observers including former presidents Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic and Ernesto Samper of Colombia, as well as electoral experts from the African Union, China and the president of Malaysia’s National Confidence Party, Mat Sabu.
More than 635 international observers will monitor Sunday’s elections, the 31st since the advent of the revolution, including the United Nations Panel of Experts, the Carter Center, the Council of Latin American Electoral Experts, the Brics group, and others.
The day before, more than 380,000 troops from the Strategic Operational Command of the National Armed Forces were deployed throughout the country as part of Plan República, along with another 180,000 officers from the police, fire brigades, civil protection and other security and protection bodies.
