Venezuelans go to the polls on Sunday against a backdrop of hope and fear in a presidential election that could end 25 years of socialist rule – if a free and fair vote is allowed.
Opinion polls suggest that the president Nicolás Maduro, 61, who is seeking his third term, could be defeated by the opposition coalition candidate, retired diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, 74.
But experts warn that it is one thing for González to gain more votes, and another is for him to be announced as winner by the National Electoral Council, which is aligned with Maduro’s government.
Independent observers describe this election as the most arbitrary in recent years, even by the standards of an authoritarian regime that started with Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez.
Anyone with a brain knows this, but it demands stating out loud:
This is what Trump wanted from Pence on Jan 6. This is what the insurrectionists on the ground were trying to do on Jan 6. They were trying to invalidate a free and fair election.
Trump seems to be on a speedrun of saying all the wrong things this election cycle. I wonder if he’d openly endorse Maduro refusing to leave power