Some 1,600 Venezuelans living in Portugal are called to vote this Sunday in the presidential elections between President Nicolás Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD).
At 11:00 local time (10:00 GMT), five hours after polling stations opened in Portugal, a handful of people were queuing at the door of the Venezuelan Consulate in Lisbon, where they could enter one by one to cast their vote.
A total of 520 people were eligible to vote at this consulate, the only polling station available in mainland Portugal, in addition to another 1,100 at the Consulate in Funchal, Madeira.
This is a small part of the nearly 10,000 Venezuelans registered as residents in Portugal, according to official data, and the voters present at the Consulate in Lisbon denounced how complicated the process is to have the right to vote abroad.
“There are many people living abroad who cannot vote,” Maria Fernanda, who has lived in Portugal for a decade, told EFE.
The 27-year-old Venezuelan woman was able to vote because she registered with the National Electoral Council some time ago, she explained, but her brother, who accompanied her to the consulate, was not so lucky.
“My brother tried it and it was quite complicated because they ask for a series of requirements that become stupid and redundant enough to put up several obstacles,” said María Fernanda, who hopes for “a change and an awakening for everyone.”
His brother was not the only Venezuelan without the right to vote who went to the consulate in Lisbon, where other compatriots were consulting a census at the door in which, as they already knew, their name did not appear.
Another who was able to vote was Elio Pestana, son of Portuguese parents but born in Venezuela, where his father, he said, spent 40 years.
Pestana explained that he is the coordinator of the Venezuelan opposition in Portugal, but this Sunday he went to the polls as just another voter: “My goal is to participate and for people to participate regardless of their political intention, but for their right to vote to be respected.”
He denounced the difficulties of the electoral registration process, which requires, among other documents, a residence permit and a valid passport, and the impossibility of voting electronically or by mail if you do not live near one of the two operating consulates in Portugal.
“Even though Venezuela is said to have the most modern electronic voting system in the world, in Latin America, we do not have a voting system that allows us to vote remotely,” criticised Pestana, who wants “peace” for Venezuela and for emigrants who want to return to be able to do so “without fear.”
Polling stations in Portugal opened at 6:00 a.m. local time (5:00 GMT) and will close at 6:00 p.m. (17:00 GMT).
The Venezuelan population has called for a demonstration in Lisbon this Sunday “for political change” and rallies in several cities of the country for this Monday, when the results will be known.
Portugal / EFE
#Venezuelans #vote #Portugal #presidential #elections
2024-07-29 00:13:16
