MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now to Venezuela, where both sides in the contentious election this Sunday are banking on large voter turnout to win. The country's socialist president has been in power for more than a decade. His opponents say he's gone back on pledges to hold a free and fair election. Now, after years of refusing to participate, Venezuela's opposition has formed its strongest movement in years. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.
DICK JUANIQUE: (Speaking Spanish).
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: "Only an avalanche of votes can kill fraud," shouts Dick Juanique at a small rally in a Caracas working-class neighborhood. He says President Nicolas Maduro is desperate to win a third term and is already playing dirty. The socialist leader has jailed opponents. He's stacked the electoral body with loyalists who shuffled voting centers, renamed others and printed a confusing ballot.
FATIMA SUAREZ: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: Rally organizer Fatima Suarez says she's teaching voters this little trick to find the right candidate. She hands out small ballot replicas and counts past the 13 photos of Maduro in place before finding the picture of leading opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The quiet 74-year-old former diplomat was thrust into the race after the opposition's overwhelming choice, Maria Corina Machado, was banned. The two have been barnstorming the country to huge crowds.
SUAREZ: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "People are fed up," says Suarez. Under Maduro, Venezuela's economy has tanked. Gasoline and electricity shortages persist, and nearly a quarter of the population has fled the country. But Maduro, who can also whip up a large rally, warned last week he too expects a large turnout or else.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "If you don't want a bloodbath in Venezuela, a civil war brought about by the fascists, then let's strive for the biggest success, the biggest victory in the electoral history of our people," he told the crowd. Such scare tactics is attempt to suppress opposition turnouts, says Caracas-based political analyst John Magdelena (ph).
JOHN MAGDELENA: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "There is no doubt that this will be the dirtiest elections in Venezuela in the last 25 years," he says. He predicts massive fraud Sunday, although he doesn't believe the army will resort to large-scale repression if opponents take to the streets. But don't expect Venezuela's socialist government to quietly retreat either, says Phil Gunson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.
PHIL GUNSON: Even if Maduro loses, he has a lot of cards to play. He is in a quite strong negotiating position, at least on paper.
KAHN: A new president won't take office until January, leaving Maduro in total control for the next five months. And for now, Maduro is using all his power to stay in office.
FRANCISCO RAMIREZ: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: Francisco Ramirez, a retired municipal cop, pulls out his cheat sheet with the names and phone numbers of 10 people he has to bring to vote for Maduro on Sunday.
RAMIREZ: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "I'll get them a motorcycle or a car, whatever I need to make sure all 10 vote," he says. Opponents have enlisted a similar plan, but preschool teacher Gabriela Hurtado says her side will bring out way more voters.
GABIRELA HURTADO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: "It won't be just one for 10. It's more like one for a million," she says. "Now is the time for us to end Venezuela's tyranny."
Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Caracas.
(SOUNDBITE OF OFFTHEWALLY'S "SUAVE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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