Spanish
Caracas.- The polling stations in Venezuela began to open their doors this Sunday at around 06:00 local time (10:00 GMT) for regional and legislative elections in which authorities for the territory of the Esequibo will be elected for the first time, and which will take place after the Government's denunciation of an alleged "sabotage" plan to this process, which led to some 70 arrests, including that of the opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa.
The state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV) broadcast images from Táchira state (west), on the border with Colombia, where the governor of that region, Freddy Bernal, and who aspires to reelection, exercised his right to vote.
For this election, which is being held ten months after the July 2024 presidential elections, questioned by the opposition majority that claims the victory of its leader Edmundo González Urrutia against President Nicolás Maduro, 15,736 centers have been set up in which a total of 27,713 polling stations will operate, according to figures from the National Electoral Council (CNE).
Some 21.4 million Venezuelans are called to the polls to elect 569 positions, including 285 deputies to the National Assembly (AN, Parliament), 24 governors - including that of the Esequibo - and 260 regional legislators.
The day has gained special attention due to the election in Venezuelan territory of a governor, eight deputies to the National Parliament and seven members of a regional legislative council for the Essequibo, the 160,000 square kilometer space rich in minerals and under the control of Guyana that is the subject of a dispute of more than a century between both countries.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), declared competent to rule on the dispute, which Venezuela does not recognize, asked the Caribbean country to "refrain from holding elections, or preparing to hold them" in the Esequibo. Caracas "categorically" rejected that declaration and reiterated that it does not recognize the jurisdiction of that court.
The Government of Guyana, led by President Irfaan Ali, assured this Saturday that the Defence Force is prepared to "defend every inch" of its country's territory.
The day before, on Friday, Guyana's Foreign Minister, Hugh Todd, warned that this nation "will not be intimidated or threatened" by Venezuela.
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In the week leading up to the elections, the denunciation by the Venezuelan Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, about an alleged plan of "attacks" against embassies in the country, which he attributed to "groups determined to generate violence", and which, he assured, would aim to "sabotage" these elections, gave another aspect to the process, since this Friday, 48 hours before the vote, dozens of arrests were known, including those of Guanipa and several foreigners.
Guanipa, an ally of opposition leader María Corina Machado, is part of the largest anti-Chavista coalition - the Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) -, which has rejected these elections, to which the opposition will go divided, since a minority group, headed by former governor Henrique Capriles, former deputy Juan Requesens and the governor of Zulia state, Manuel Rosales, decided to participate.
