In the early morning of April 14, Venezuelan voters went to the polls to decide whether Nicolás Maduro or Henrique Capriles Radonski would become the country’s next president. Voter participation started slowly in several neighborhoods in eastern Caracas, but eventually, more than 78 percent of Venezuela’s registered voters cast their ballots. With 99 percent of votes counted, Venezuela’s Consejo Nacional Electoral (National Electoral Council—CNE) declared Maduro the winner by a margin of 1.6 percentage points (50.7 percent versus 49.1 percent of votes cast). This was the narrowest margin of victory in a Venezuelan election since 1968.
The following photos were taken from different polling centers in Caracas in the neighborhoods of Chacao, Los Chorros and Las Mercedes. Among them, a series of photos captures thousands of voters and spectators who gathered outside the Colegio Santo Tomás de Villanueva in Las Mercedes to catch a glimpse of opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
The photographer was unable to take photos in the neighborhood of Catia because volunteers from several different voting centers prevented her from doing so. Some questioned the photographer’s right to be in Catia—historically a Chávez stronghold—since she was not from the neighborhood and “looked like a Capriles supporter.”
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All photos courtesy of the author.
