Polls suggest that turnout could be the lowest since the late Hugo Chavez was first elected president in 1998. A poll by Datanalisis this month said 71 per cent of Venezuelans — and 96 per cent of opposition supporters — don’t trust the nation’s electoral council, which is controlled by government loyalists. “Even if Maduro wins the election there’s no way he can solve these problems,” said Michael Penfold, a Caracas-based fellow for the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. He daily bashes Falcon, calling him “Fal-Trump,” for his proposal to dollarize the economy to stem runaway inflation. Maduro supporter Johnny Farias responded by pulling out a fistful of Venezuelan bolivars intact and waving them overhead at the opposing crowd.

Source: National Post May 17, 2018 15:33 UTC