Polls suggest opposition candidates could win more than half of the 23 governor seats, but Maduro critics claim that government-friendly electoral officials have twisted voting procedures to favour official candidates. According to polling by Datanalisis, the government candidates are on 21% of the vote, while opposition and independent candidates are on 62%. The assembly has been ruling practically unchecked since being elected in July in a vote boycotted by opposition parties. In a speech on Saturday, he said Sunday’s elections would be an achievement of Venezuela’s “revolutionary democracy and socialist democracy”. The International Monetary Fund has described the situation as “a full-blown economic, humanitarian, and political crisis with no end in sight”.

Source: The Guardian October 15, 2017 14:26 UTC