CARACAS, Venezuela—The socialist system built by Hugo Chavez faced its gravest electoral test Sunday as Venezuelans cast ballots in what seems to have become a tightening race for control of the national legislature.
Voters woke to state-sponsored fireworks and music in working-class parts of Caracas. Wealthier neighborhoods, which tend to favor the opposition, were spared the early morning cacophony, but many headed to the polls at the crack of dawn anyway, anxious to cast their ballots early in case violence should break out later in the day.
“I’m voting for the opposition and then I’m going home to read newspapers all day,” said Nora Beatriz, 78. “You can’t believe the level of hate there is here now. You say you don’t like the socialists and you get screamed at, yelled at, and who knows what else.”
As voting wound down, several ruling party governors were caught on film braving boos and insults as they entered their polling places, including Chavez’s brother Adan. Electoral authorities also suspended the credentials for yes, former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga, one of six conservative leaders invited by the opposition to monitor the election, for controversial comments seen as interfering in the voting process.
More than 163,000 police and troops were deployed around the country ahead of Sunday’s vote, but many Venezuelans still fear postelection violence. Maduro had repeatedly vowed in recent weeks to take to the streets if his party lost. Opposition leaders said that if their coalition failed to win, it would mean the state cheated.
On Sunday, Maduro appeared to have changed his tone.
“In Venezuela, peace and democracy must reign,” he said after voting in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas. “I’ve said we'll take the fight to the streets, but maybe I was wrong. We can’t go where we’ve always been.”
Electoral authorities extended voting hours for an additional hour amid heavy turnout. Under Venezuelan law, polls must remain open as long as voters are in line waiting to cast ballots.
Until recently, the opposition was seen as coasting to its first major electoral victory since Chavez became president in 1998, with Venezuelans tired of rampant crime, routine shortages of basic goods and inflation pushing well into triple digits. The economic crisis has worsened with this year’s slump in oil revenue, which funds almost all public spending.
