Amid threats of 'bloodbath', Venezuela votes in elections as Maduro seeks 3rd term

Venezuela is going to polls on Sunday where longtime ruler Nikolas Maduro is facing a challenge from joint opposition candidate Edmundo González.

Even though the Venezuelan elections are deemed most free in decades, there has been a crackdown of the opposition and the opposition fears Maduro could resort to electoral fraud to stay in power or simply refuse to concede defeat in case he loses. The crackdown has been such that the most popular opposition leader, Maria Corina, has been barred from contesting.

Maduro has already resorted to threatening rhetoric in a bid to stay in power. He has warned that there could be a “bloodbath” in case he loses.

“If they do not want Venezuela to become a bloodbath, a fratricidal civil war produced by the fascists, let us guarantee the greatest success, the greatest electoral victory of our people,” said Maduro, as per AFP.

Maduro unlikely to concede defeat, say analysts

The polls have suggested that the opposition has a strong chance this time of unseating Maduro, who has ruled Venezuela since 2013. But the question is whether he would respect the mandate if the loses or if the elections would be free and fair in the first place.

Analysts have said that Maduro is unlikely to concede defeat, according to AFP.

Maduro will not concede defeat especially in the absence of immunity guarantees as his regime is under investigation for human rights abuses by the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to the agency.

How Maduro plunged Venezuela into chaos

In his decade-long rule, Maduro has presided over the economic ruin of Venezuela along with severe democratic downslide. He has cracked down on opposition and critics and stands accused of holding hundreds of political prisoners.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil serves but the production as well as sales have plunged under his rule. Deep corruption in Maduro’s regime coupled with sanctions as he plunged the country into geopolitical conflict with the United States mean that revenue from oil has fallen dramatically.

During Maduro’s rule, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Venezuela has fallen by around 80 per cent. The country faces high inflation and severe food shortages.

As conditions in Venezuela worsened under Maduro, around 7.7 million people fled the country to take shelter elsewhere in South and North America, according to the United Nations.

Separately, a Gallup survey reported that as many as 68 per cent Venezuelans struggle to find food and the condition is such that even 59 per cent of the richest 20 per cent say they have been unable to afford food because of inflation.