International eyes on Venezuela voting

More than 130 international observers were in Venezuela for yesterday’s first major elections in four years. More than 21 million Venezuelans were eligible to vote in over 3,000 contests, including for 23 governors and 335 mayors. More than 70,000 candidates entered the races. At stake is the legitimacy of the National Electoral Council, which has been accused of setting conditions favourable to President Nicolas Maduro’s allies by disqualifying popular opposition candidates. The international observers, mostly from the EU, were sent across the country to assess electoral conditions such as fairness, media access, campaign activities and disqualification of candidates.