This July, for the first time in more than a decade, Venezuelans will vote in a presidential election with an opposition candidate who has a fighting — if slim and improbable — chance at winning.


Amid an economic and democratic crisis that has led more than seven million Venezuelans to abandon the country — considered among the world’s largest displacements — Nicolás Maduro, the country’s authoritarian president, has done something few thought he would: allowed an opposition candidate with widespread support to appear on the ballot.



Though largely unknown, the challenger is leading in several polls, underscoring how many Venezuelans are hungry for change.


Still, few have illusions that the vote will be democratic or fair. And even if a majority of voters cast their vote against Mr. Maduro, there is widespread doubt that he would allow the results to become public — or accept them if they do.

Venezuela prepares to vote at a moment when the country is facing consequential issues that will resonate far beyond its borders.

They include overseeing the fate of the country’s vast oil reserves, the world’s largest; resetting — or not — battered relations with the United States; deciding whether Iran, China and Russia can continue depending on Venezuela as a key ally in the Western Hemisphere; and confronting an internal humanitarian crisis that has propelled a once prosperous nation into immense suffering.

A win for Mr. Maduro could drive Venezuela further into the hands of U.S. adversaries, intensify poverty and repression and spur an even larger exodus of people to head north toward the United States, where an immigration surge has become a central theme in the November presidential election. Read more: https://aiapkpro.com/can-elections-force-venezuelas-authoritarian-leader-from-power/