VENES IN T&T CAN’T VOTE IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

MOST Venezuelan exiles in the Caribbean and elsewhere will be unable to vote in this weekend’s presidential election.

That is because they have not been registered to cast their ballots in the high-stakes poll.

Of the estimated 7.8 million Venezuelans who have fled the country over the past few years, there are thousands in Caricom countries, including nearby Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Venezuelan authorities “stopped registering out-of-country voters in 2018 and only reopened registration in March,” the British Guardian newspaper reported.

The newspaper said human rights groups indicated that only about 500 people were added to those registered before 2018.

The estimated 800,000 Venezuelans in the United States and 500,000 in Ecuador will be unable to vote, the Guardian reported.

The exiles fled Venezuela to escape the repression and economic hardship under the administration of Nicolas Maduro.

Many left family members behind.

Most are expected to favour opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is leading in the polls.

Maduro’s agents have been harassing opposition campaigners, some of whom have been arrested.

Some online news media have been blocked and European election observers have been debarred.

The Guardian cited a survey that said 65 per cent of exiled Venezuelans said they will consider returning to their homeland if the opposition wins Sunday’s poll.

There are fears that Maduro will not easily relinquish power.

He has been quoted as saying the country will descend “into a bloodbath” if the opposition wins.

 One analyst predicted that if Maduro and his agents consider they can’t win the election, they will delay the vote count.