Maduro supporters

Muhamad Yehia

AP- Venezuelans waited anxiously for the results of Sunday’s presidential election that could pave the way to an end to 25 years of single party rule, even as some polls remained open more than three hours after a deadline to close.

President Nicolás Maduro, in seeking a third term, faced his toughest challenge yet from the unlikeliest of opponents: Edmundo González, a retired diplomat who was unknown to voters before being tapped in April as a last-minute stand-in for opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado.

Opposition leaders were already celebrating, online and outside a few voting centers, what they assured was a landslide victory for González. Their hope was boosted by purported exit polls showing a healthy margin of victory for González. Exit polls are not allowed under Venezuelan law.

“I’m so happy,” said Merling Fernández, a 31-year-old bank employee, as a representative for the opposition campaign walked out of one voting center in a working class neighborhood of Caracas to announce results showing González more than doubled Maduro’s vote count. Dozens standing nearby erupted in an impromptu rendition of the national anthem

“This is the path toward a new Venezuela,” added Fernández, holding back tears. “We are all tired of this yoke.”

Maduro supporters were not showing any signs of throwing in the towel, however

“We can’t give results, but we can show face,” a smiling Jorge Rodriguez, campaign chief for Maduro, said at a press conference

Polls were supposed to begin closing at 6 p.m. but more than three hours after the deadline some voting centers in Caracas remained open and authorities were silent. The opposition called for the National Electoral Council to begin counting ballots.

“This is the decisive moment,” Machado, flanked by González, told reporters at their campaign headquarters.

Machado was careful not to claim victory before authorities announce results but said she had already received copies of some official voting tallies and they indicated a record turnout — exactly what the opposition needed to overcome Maduro’s well-greased electoral machine.

González was similarly enthused, congratulating Venezuelans on the “historic” day and urging supporters to “celebrate in peace.”

Earlier, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris offered her support. “The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election.,” Harris wrote on X. “The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.”

A few Maduro allies were also projecting confidence

“The ballot boxes express what the streets said during these past few months of campaigning,” Maduro’s son, lawmaker Nicolas Maduro Guerra, said on X as night fell on the capital. “Victory for the Venezuelan people.”

But in the absence of any order to close polls, their optimism rang hollow.

Voters started lining up at some voting centers across the country before dawn Sunday, sharing water, coffee and snacks for several hours.

The election will have ripple effects throughout the Americas, with government opponents and supporters alike signaling their interest in joining the exodus of 7.7 million Venezuelans who have already left their homes for opportunities abroad should Maduro win another six year term

Authorities set Sunday’s election to coincide with what would have been the 70th birthday of former President Hugo Chávez, the revered leftist firebrand who died of cancer in 2013, leaving his Bolivarian revolution in the hands of Maduro. But Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela are more unpopular than ever among many voters who blame his policies for crushing wages, spurring hunger, crippling the oil industry and separating families due to migration.

Maduro, 61, is facing off against an opposition that has managed to line up behind a single candidate after years of intraparty divisions and election boycotts that torpedoed their ambitions to topple the ruling party.

Machado was blocked by the Maduro-controlled supreme court from running for any office for 15 years. A former lawmaker, she swept the opposition’s October primary with over 90% of the vote. After she was blocked from joining the presidential race, she chose a college professor as her substitute on the ballot, but the National Electoral Council also barred her from registering. That’s when González, a political newcomer, was chosen.

Sunday’s ballot also features eight other candidates challenging Maduro, but only González threatens Maduro’s rule.

After voting, Maduro said he would recognize the election result and urged all other candidates to publicly declare that they would do the same.

“No one is going to create chaos in Venezuela,” Maduro said. “I recognize and will recognize the electoral referee, the official announcements and I will make sure they are recognized.”

Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy. But it entered into a free fall after Maduro took the helm. Plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages and hyperinflation that soared past 130,000% led first to social unrest and then mass emigration