A fraught election campaign closed Thursday in Venezuela, mired in uncertainty after president Nicolas Maduro warned of a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses — which polls suggest is likely.
Thousands attended final rallies in the capital Caracas, about a kilometer apart, for Maduro and his opposition rival, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
The incumbent, seeking a third six-year term, trails far behind Gonzalez Urrutia in stated voter intent, but observers doubt he is ready to give up power.
In a video on Thursday, Maduro reiterated to the nation that only he could ‘guarantee peace and stability,’ while Gonzalez Urrutia urged Venezuelans to not let ‘the message of hate... intimidate you.’
At the Maduro rally, where party lackeys handed out T-shirts to pumping music and beating drums, voters hailed their ‘gallo pinto’ candidate — a fighting cock emblem he has adopted as a symbol of strength, as they chanted, ‘Vamos Nico!’ (Let’s go Nico.)
At the gathering for Gonzalez Urrutia, supporters waved Venezuelan flags and honked motorbike hooters, chanting, ‘Si se puede!’ (Yes we can!)
Voter Mercedes Henriques, 68, said that she was proud to support the opposition ‘because we cannot anymore with this dictatorship we have.’
But her optimism was tainted by worry. ‘We are praying that they don’t steal the election,’ she said of the regime.
If they do, she will join others on the street ‘for my vote, for my children,’ said the retiree who has two of her three daughters and six grandchildren abroad.
On the other side of the political fence, Maduro supporter Raibert Pacheco, 28, said his choice was something that runs in our veins.
One man at the official rally, though, said he was forced to be there.
In office since taking over from Hugo Chavez in 2013, Maduro counts the electoral authorities, military top brass and other state institutions among his backers.
Analysts have told AFP violence is likely if the state apparatus intervenes in an election that the opposition is all but certain of winning.