CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela opposition leaders made a fresh effort to rally support to oust President Nicolas Maduro Saturday, holding a symbolic “anti-government referendum” just as the regime is set to solidify its grip.
Thousands cast votes at hundreds of sites across the nation, as well as online and via their mobile phones, for a “people’s consultation” that sought to reject Maduro’s “usurpation of the presidency” and last week’s legislative election, which the opposition boycotted.
Results of the week-long survey, expected to be released soon, have no legal implications. Led by the outgoing National Assembly leader Juan Guaido, the vote was intended to unify the opposition and keep up international pressure against Maduro, who dismissed the effort as having no legal or constitutional value.
“I know this is not going to change the government, but it is important that they see us in the streets, that they know that we are a majority who want to recover democracy,” said Silvia Salas, a 59-year-old retiree, after voting in a public square in eastern Caracas. “I will always support everything that helps us to get Maduro out.”
The country’s economic and social conditions have deteriorated under Maduro, who took power after Hugo Chavez died in 2013. More than 5 million people have fled the country, which is plagued by hyperinflation, electricity outages, gasoline shortages and widespread hunger. The economy is expected to contract by a third in 2020, according to Caracas-based research company Ecoanalitica.
After winning National Assembly elections last week, Maduro and his allies will have control of all governmental bodies. Guaido, who for two years has been recognized as the country’s rightful leader by the U.S. and more than 50 countries, will lose his seat as head of the assembly in January.
One of the opposition’s objectives with the referendum was to surpass the 31% turnout in last week’s election, which left Maduro with 253 of 277 assembly seats. The election, which the opposition refused to participate in due to a lack of international observers and other conditions, was rejected by more than 50 countries.
There were lines of dozens of people at several voting spots in Caracas on Saturday, mostly with elderly Venezuelans.
“After 20 years, the so-called revolution has failed,” said Jose Eloy Suarez, 62, an organizer at a polling site in Caracas where 15 people lined up to vote. “It has enriched high-level bureaucrats and impoverished the people.”
Guaido, who’s seen support for the opposition wane under his leadership, vowed to fight on and maintain the alternative congressional body to compete with the one controlled by Maduro.
“We are going to install a National Assembly in January,” he told supporters at a polling site in Caracas. “And of course, the regime is going to persecute us.
