Venezuelans vote in presidential election that could end Maduro's rule
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00:00He's been Venezuela's president for 11 years, but opposition supporters believe that Nicolás
00:05Maduro could be unseated in Sunday's presidential election.
00:09The 61-year-old, whose government has been accused of preventing international observers
00:13from arriving for the vote, has promised to bring about economic growth that will mean
00:17the economy will no longer rely on oil income.
00:20I am prepared for a great victory. I know that our people will do it again. We will
00:31win again. And the floodgates will open for a miraculous time of peace, stability and
00:40prosperity.
00:44Maduro leads the socialist PSUV party that has run the country for a quarter of a century
00:49and has come to dominate key institutions.
00:52Over the past decade, millions of Venezuelans have fled the country as a result of the political
00:57and economic crisis into which it descended under the Maduro administration.
01:03Opposition leader MarÃa Machado, who enjoys wide popularity, came out on top in the opposition
01:08primary last year, but has been barred from the race by institutions loyal to Maduro.
01:14The coalition's candidate, 74-year-old former diplomat Edmundo González, is ahead of Maduro
01:19in opinion polls, despite previously never having run for public office.
01:24He has pledged to free political prisoners and re-establish international relations.
01:29González, who proposes reducing inflation and whose policy favours the free market,
01:34is hopeful for a victory.
01:37We're confident that we will win. All the known opinion polls give us a large and secure
01:45majority on that day. We're not counting on any other scenario, but on the fact that we
01:51will win.
01:56Some analysts warn the vote may not be fair, and according to NGO Foro Penal, dozens of
02:01people linked to the opposition campaign have been arrested since the start of the year.
02:06Machado insists the country has the world's most transparent electoral system, but the
02:102018 election, in which he clinched a victory by a wide margin, has been widely criticised
02:15as neither free nor fair.