Leading in early results, Machado claims win in Venezuelan presidential primary vote

Venezuelans presented irrefutable evidence of their desire for an alternative to the decade-long, crisis-ridden presidency of Nicolas Maduro, thronging voting centres on Sunday set up for a primary election organised by the country’s opposition and showing an overwhelming support for long-time government critic Maria Corina Machado.

Machado declared herself the winner early on Monday after the independent National Primary Commission, which organised the primary, released early returns showing her ahead with more than 90 per cent of support.

Maduro’s allies, who had ridiculed and minimised the primary, remained conspicuously quiet throughout election day, but hours after their foe claimed victory, state television presented the contest as an “electoral farce”.

But that assessment is far from reality. Venezuelans in and outside their homeland gathered at voting centres, braved bad weather and waited in for hours to be able to vote.

They downloaded apps to circumvent internet censorship and helped each other find their voting centre.

In neighbourhoods across the capital, Caracas, including some low-income areas once considered strongholds of the ruling party, voters stayed in line despite a rainstorm that left them soaking wet.