Balloting stations finish off

Teresa Albanes, the head of the Electoral Committee of the opposition Unified Democratic Panel (MUD), declared that the one-hour extension for primaries was over; she added that only polling stations still with voters should continue operating.

In the opinion of Armando Briquet, the head of the campaign team of hopeful Henrique Capriles Radonski, turnout numbers show that Venezuelans can, in a civic way, take a step of peaceful protest. He underscored that viewers of his Tricolor Command would remain in the balloting stations to monitor the tally.

After midday, voters in eastern Zulia state poured into balloting stations. In Maracay, the capital city of central Aragua state, six foreign observers checked the voting in three polling stations and attested to transparency. Observers came from Argentina, India, the United States, Guyana and Suriname.