CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — His smile is confident, his hair is neatly combed, his eyes are slightly squinted. He’s probably the first candidate you’ll see in this election. Venezuela’s next presidential election ballot The election Nicolas MaduroThe incumbent is seeking reelection.
Unlike his nine other opponents, Maduro has appeared on the ballot not once or twice but a staggering 13 times, sure to attract voters’ attention.
Each time, it is one of several political groups he will represent in the July 28 presidential election. Maduro occupies the entire first four columns of the ballot, with photos of other candidates sprinkled throughout, including that of former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, the only realistic candidate to block the president’s third term.
Still, the sheer number of images of Maduro on the ballots is a sign of the seriousness of the situation.
Venezuela is facing its toughest electoral test in decades, an outcome that could secure another six years for President Maduro and bring an end to the self-proclaimed socialist policies that were once successful in tackling poverty but whose continued mismanagement has plunged the country into an ongoing economic crisis.
Venezuela’s election rules allow as many photos of candidates to appear on the ballot (electronic ballot in Venezuela and printed ballot for voters abroad) as there are parties supporting them. This year’s ballot features 38 photos, with the candidate’s name and party listed underneath each one.
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Experienced Venezuelan voters are also accustomed to seeing many candidates on the touch screens used in the South American country’s elections.
However, for some people, too many photos can be confusing.
“It makes me dizzy to see Maduro’s name on that card so many times, but we know that the danger is the candidates who don’t represent us,” said Sonia Guevara, a 38-year-old office worker, referring to opposition candidates seen as close to the government.
One example is the case of Luis Martínez, the candidate of the traditional opposition group, the Democratic Action Party (AD), whose leadership was suspended a few months ago by a Supreme Court that backed Maduro.
Martinez said, Opposition United Platform Coalition.
“This is confusing. I have had to explain to my mother multiple times that the AD on the card is not the AD she normally votes for,” Guevara said. “My mother is 71 years old and she is telling me not to vote for the AD this time.”
Gonzalez has appeared on the ballot three times, while Martinez, who is considered a close government aide, has appeared six times.
An estimated 17 million people are eligible to vote ahead of this month’s elections. Another 4 million Venezuelans living abroad are registered to vote, but only about 69,000 meet the government’s requirements to vote abroad. Costly and time-consuming government requirements for registration, a lack of information, and the requirement to prove legal residence in the host country prevent many migrants from registering to vote.
Francisco Maldonado, a 50-year-old merchant in Caracas, is ready to vote.
“At this point, I think we all know who we’re voting for, but we need to be more careful than ever, just like we would be with an ATM,” Maldonado said. “You can’t make a mistake when you vote.”
The exact population of Venezuela is unknown. The country’s last census was conducted in 2011. At the time, the population was estimated at 27.2 million, but the country’s political, economic and social crises over the past decade have seen more than 7.7 million people leave the country.
Laura Dib, Venezuela program director for WOLA, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization that works on human rights in the Americas, said it’s common for a candidate’s face to be repeated on the ballot, but listing him 13 times means Maduro is “the most visually identifiable.”
Given that opposition forces who support Gonzalez do not have access to Venezuela’s official media, Dib said “it is becoming harder for the opposition to educate voters on how to vote.”
She also pointed out other confusing issues, such as some political parties using the same colors on the ballot as parties that support Maduro, and one opposition faction candidate being allowed to use the same colors as the main opposition candidate group.
Dib said that would “create confusion and violate the rules of the CNE,” which is the Spanish acronym for the National Electoral Council.
Additionally, while the electoral law allows political parties to change their candidates 10 days before election day, those changes may not be reflected in ballots already programmed into electronic voting machines or printed for overseas voting.
Dib said if people vote for a replaced candidate, “that vote will be invalid.”
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Associated Press writer E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report.
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