Venezuela, a country in South America, has presidential elections on the day this edition will be published. This is big news as many are looking forward to economic and political stability and as it’s the only country in the region which is part of OPEC, (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) tensions are high.
Before we delve into the instability in Venezuela, let’s look at the current parties and what their stances are regarding these elections.
Current situation:
There are 2 main candidates to focus on. The first was a former bus driver and trade union leader and has been in office since 2013. He is Nicolás Maduro and leads the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). This party (from the title) is Socialist and something not from the title is that some of its ideas are linked to Bolivarianism. The PSUV was founded in 2007 by the late President Hugo Chávez, the PSUV is the ruling party and has been in power since Chávez's election in 1998. It promotes socialism, the Bolivarian Revolution, and anti-imperialism.
We may delve into the Bolivarian revolution / Bolivarianism in another edition, but to sum up it’s the independence struggles of a man named Simón Bolívar (1783-1830). He helped ‘liberate the countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia from the Spanish Empire and established free republics.’
The other main candidate is Edmundo González Urrutia, who was a former ambassador to Argentina and Algeria leads the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which is coalition which supports him. MUD was formed in 2008, the coalition consist of opposition parties that challenge the PSUV's dominance. It seeks to restore democratic norms and address the country's economic issues. González will most likely win as mentioned in the opinion polls below.
Opinion Polls (See references for sources):
González and MUD have an opinion poll between 59.1% and 71.9% - a landslide majority.
Nicolás Maduro and PSVU have an opinion poll between 12.1% and 24.6%- not enough for Maduro to secure a 3rd term.
‘The current government approved the participation of eight other candidates who collectively poll around or below 10 percent.’
Economy / Migration / International relations crisis:
The title may be long, but these are three critical factors which is stopping Venezuela climbing in relation to economic growth and standards. More than 50% of Venezuelans live in poverty (that’s around 14,000,000 people) and since the country mainly exports raw materials, (mainly Petroleum, which is sold under the OPEC market), a GDP of 100 billion USD is small compared to 
neighbouring countries. Considering that since Maduro became President in 2013 and GDP was 371 billion USD, it’s not a surprise that many people want to see change. Migration is another concern. Not people coming into the country but rather young people leaving the country. Around 7.7 million people have left since 2014, again near the time Maduro came into office, with many going to neighbouring countries and around 2.5% going to the United States. One of the reasons for this exodus was economic hardships. Inflation was around 120% in 2015, 255% in 2016, 440% in 2017, and 65,374% in 2018! Now its around 100% but still way higher than neighbouring country Colombia with 6.9%.
Another reason was soaring crime rates, which resulted to increased gang warfare and violence in the country. Also, the US and other countries, imposed sanction on Venezuela in 2015 (expired in December 2023) in response to the political corruption in Maduro’s government.
Conclusion:
It seems that González will become the new President of Venezuela on paper, but whether those emigrants will return is another matter. Many want change, and change may not be around the corner.