Getty ImagesVoting is drawing to a close in Venezuela’s presidential election, where Nicolás Maduro of the ruling socialist PSUV party is seeking a third term in office.
Polling stations are scheduled to close at 18:00 local time (22:00 GMT) but must remain open if people are still queuing to vote.
Maduro’s main challenger is former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, who is backed by an opposition coalition.
The opposition called on supporters to remain vigilant at polling stations to verify vote counting within the “decisive time” after closure, amid widespread fears that the PSUV would try to steal votes.
Polls show Mr González with a wide lead over the incumbent president, but with Mr Maduro’s 2018 re-election widely seen as neither free nor fair, there are concerns about the outcome of the election if Mr Maduro is not elected May be subject to tampering.
Opponents of the president overcame many obstacles before the election, not least the fact that their chosen candidate, Maria Collina Machado, was barred from running for office.
Ms Machado remains at the forefront of the opposition campaign, reminding voters that the counting process is legally supposed to be public.
She called on “all Venezuelans to stay at the polls… to remain vigilant”.
The PSUV has been in power in Venezuela for the past 25 years – first under the late Hugo Chávez and then under his handpicked successor, Maduro.
Under their leadership, the PSUV controlled not only the executive and legislative branches, but also much of the judiciary.
Since taking office in 2013, Maduro has caused an economic collapse, with gross domestic product shrinking by 70% and more than 7.7 million people fleeing the country in search of a better life.
Mr Gonzalez said if he won he would do “everything possible” to lure back those who left.
But Mr Maduro says he intends to win the election “By hook or by crook” And warned that if he lost, there would be a “bloodbath”.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) – the body that organizes the elections and announces the official results – is dominated by government loyalists.
Its president, Ives Amoroso, is a close personal ally of Mr Maduro.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but its output has plummeted under President Maduro due to a lack of investment, mismanagement and oil sanctions.
The lifting of U.S. oil sanctions imposed to pressure Maduro after the 2018 presidential election could have an impact on global oil prices.
Voting in Venezuela is electronic. Voters press the button assigned to their preferred candidate on a voting machine.
Electronic results are sent to CNE headquarters, but voting machines also print out paper receipts that are placed in ballot boxes.
By law, political parties can send witnesses to each polling station to count paper receipts.
The opposition will be watching these statistics closely to see if they match those published by the CNE.
