As Venezuela heads to the polls, registered voters in Australia say registration has been difficult and information scarce, while the embassy in Canberra has defended its election hosting.
She left Venezuela during the term of the now-deceased former president Hugo Chávez, whose successor Nicolas Maduro, 61, is seeking a third term in office in Sunday’s election.
"The majority of the Venezuelan diaspora is opposed to this regime, and I am no exception," she said.Edmundo González Urrutia, opposition presidential candidate in the 28 July poll. It was much the same in 2013, when elections were called after the death of Chávez, with 15 Venezuelans in Australia voting for Maduro, and 622 voting for Capriles.
There have only been seven new registrations this year, according to the National Electoral Commission of Venezuela — Brisbane-based Gabriel Mijares Vásquez was one of them."It's strange because the rules that tell you how to register are not clear. The embassy gave us a month to register, but they did not provide any information, they did not send out any media releases, and the requirements were absurd," he said.
"In previous elections, maintained a close relationship with the ambassador with good communication." "This creates a bit of distrust because we know that the number of people working at the embassy is very small, and according to the instructions from the National Electoral Commission of Venezuela, there should be three ballot paper issuing officers per issuing table on election day and each must have a substitute," he said.
SBS Spanish contacted the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, an organisation in Australia that supports the Chavismo movement, for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.Ruiz is spearheading a grassroots campaign to fill what she calls "election information gaps" and to support and encourage registered voters in Australia to make the trip to Canberra.
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