Venezuela election: Five things you need to know

This election could bring a change of government to Venezuela after 25 years in which it has been run by the socialist PSUV party – first under the leadership of the late President Hugo Chávez, and after his death from cancer in 2013, under his protegee, Nicolás Maduro.

During this quarter of a century, the PSUV has come to dominate key institutions in the country.

A PSUV-led coalition holds 256 out of 277 seats in the National Assembly, Venezuela’s legislative body.

This almost total control of the legislature has in turn allowed the Maduro government to take control of two other key institutions whose members are chosen by the National Assembly:

With the government in control of the executive, the legislative and, to a large extent, the judiciary, democracy has been undermined.

A divided opposition has in the past failed to pose a serious challenge to the Maduro Administration.

Its strategy of boycotting elections because they were not free and fair resulted in Mr Maduro being re-elected in 2018 in an election widely dismissed as a sham, and in the National Assembly being almost completely in his party’s hands.

But the main opposition parties, which have now united behind one candidate, have dropped their election boycott, arguing that even though they have been hampered and harassed by the government along the way, this presidential election constitutes their best chance to oust Mr Maduro from power.

They point to opinion polls which suggest their candidate, Edmundo González, has an overwhelming lead over Mr Maduro and argue that support for Mr González is so overwhelming that it will thwart any potential attempts by the government to steal the election.

Mr González has said that if he wins, he will restore the independence of Venezuela’s institutions.

Another win for Mr Maduro is expected to allow him to further tighten his grip on power and to curtail the activities of the opposition even more.