Mr Maduro announced in March that he would run for reelection to secure another six-year term.
There are another 34 options on the ballot, but all are regarded as allied with the Maduro regime, meaning that of 50 options, 47 favour the government and just three represent a vote for the opposition.
“There is only one opposition candidate and that is González,” says Rafael Osío Cabrices, a prominent Venezuelan journalist now living in Montreal. “All the others are either directly tied to Chavismo [the Leftist movement founded by late president Hugo Chávez] or follow its logic.”
Mr González, 74, a little-known retired diplomat, was eventually chosen as the opposition’s sole presidential candidate last month. That was after longtime dissident María Corina Machado, who had won the opposition primaries with more than 90 per cent of the vote, was declared ineligible for public office for 15 years on charges widely viewed as trumped-up.
Opposition support at 60pc
She continues to campaign for Mr González and is often mobbed by supporters in working-class neighbourhoods that were once bastions of Chavismo. Polls show support for the opposition at around 60 per cent to the government’s 20 per cent.
Were he to win, Mr González would be expected to take up a largely protocolary role, while allowing Ms Corina Machado to effectively run the government. But such a victory is viewed as unlikely.
Mr Osío Cabrices predicted more dirty tricks from the dictatorship, which is accused of rampant corruption and overseeing an economic collapse that has led to an exodus of seven million Venezuelans.
He added: “They are desperate. There’s no way they can win a fair election and they know that. It’s all about timing. They don’t want to give Washington time to react. They’re waiting for the right moment.”
