As Venezuelans have started voting in Australia and Asia, it is past midnight here in Caracas and Election day is upon us. Talked to a lot of people today, most opposition, but both sides. Everyone is very tense. Very. Even those that are sure their side will win are concerned about dirty tricks by the other side. Plan B in Venezuela has become a word used daily in conversations. Everyone wonders if the other side has a Plan B. After plan B, momentum is another favorite word. People around me say I use it in every sentence.
The only relaxed person in Venezuela seems to be opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. This morning he walked up the Avila mountain, no visible security, fans having their pictures taken with him along the way:
A bit irresponsible if you ask me, but maybe he figures this will not be possible for six years, should he win.
The Government’s TV channel continued showing advertising for Chavez. The ads did not have the President’s face, but they did have the President’s silouette. Well, another abuse of power, what else is new?
There were fireworks and pot banging at 8 PM, did not get the objective, save your energy for tomorrow, it will be a long day. If it is as close as I believe, we could be here Monday morning wondering who won.
Presidential election days are always weird. I don’t like to vote early, not only I do not like to wake up early, but I want to vote late so Chavistas are fooled into thinking they are ahead. Then I cast my vote and get them worried. I still wonder why all TV and radio stations tell people to go vote early, if polls will not close as long as someone is in line and the oppsoition wants Chavismo to think they are winning.
Yes, the weather is going to be bad tomorrow: As you can see in the weather map as I write this, it is raining all over Venezuela and the stormy patterns to the Northeast bode badly for tomorrow:
The opposition thinks this favors it, as abstention will be higher and the worst weather is expected in the afternoon. Any attempt by either side to get out the vote in the late afternoon, if they think they are behind, will be an uphill battle.
I will be blogging intermittently. I will probably go out early, take pictures, walk around, feel the atmosphere. But once I get in line to vote, I may be MIA for a few hours, will bring my iPad just in case there is wifi at the school where I vote.
The evening will probably be full of rumors. I doubt we will know the result until near midnight. I will tweet (@moctavio) (or retweet) rumors, but will stick to good info here.
If you have interesting pictures send them over to devilexcrement@gmail.com. Don’t know when I will post them all, want to keep the layout simple tomorrow, but please send your best stuff. However, stuff which arrives before I start posting tomorrow will go up without any problem.
Good luck tomorrow. Good luck Venezuela!
The Devil's Excrement 
October 7, 2012 at 9:56 am
The chavistas have contracted public transportation for their use. Whether they use them or not, they are not on the streets for other peoples use to get to the polls. Pretty sneaky.
October 7, 2012 at 8:36 am
That’s why the rain sent by the weathergods, which are helping us, is just fine as an ever so small equalizer to their cheating. Let them bring the Cuban Babalao anti-rain dancers all they want. Good eventually always trumps evil and today is the day.
October 7, 2012 at 7:39 am
Is it true that there will be 4 pictures of Capriles on the ballot where if someone chooses those four, the votes do not count for him due to those parties pulling their support late. It includes the very first photo of Capriles? Can anyone confirm? That would mean 1000s of votes lost.
October 7, 2012 at 7:50 am
Don’t worry. They were all fringe parties who will not receive many votes. There are people handing out pamphlets showing where to vote on the card & there has been lots of publicity as to where to vote. It should not be a problem.
One thing that is showing up on Twitter is that if you don’t wait for the photo to fully appear before you vote then you will get a null vote. Just take an extra second before pushing the vote button & check your slip to make sure it’s correct.
October 7, 2012 at 7:25 am
Be safe, Miguel!!!
Just heard from my nephew from Calgary who traveled to VZ to vote, and he said the mood was electric–but also nervousness on BOTH sides.
October 7, 2012 at 7:18 am
I went to the Venezuelan Embassy in Helsinki, Finland at about 1:00pm local time just to see. They have 84 registered voters, and 44 of them had voted when I left. They were expecting more, as the late mass in the only Catholic church in Helsinki finishes at 1:00pm. The atmosphere was celebratory and everyone there was clearly expecting “el cambio”. There were about 15 people in the lobby and they seemed to be in no hurry to leave. Everyone was all smiles and confidence. One woman told me that there had been an unpleasant moment with one woman who was a Chavez supporter bitterly denouncing the rest of the Venezuelans there.
And, that is it from my corner of the world, at the moment. I will not stay up for the results, as I do not expect them until tomorrow morning, here in Finland. I will be looking for other anecdotal reports and clues as to which way the wind is blowing.
October 7, 2012 at 6:54 am
Good Luck Venezuela – Succeed and stay safe -we are praying and hoping tomorrow is a new era for you.
October 7, 2012 at 6:54 am
Capriles will win, apathy is pushing back chavismo, at least here in Valencia you can see no big linea in areas that used to favour him, it is a sign of clear wasted since the early vote is a Chávez calling in the first place.
October 7, 2012 at 6:44 am
A couple of pics from Barcelona, the queue almost goes around a whole Eixample block.
C/Mallorca:
http://db.tt/We40NB22
C/Padilla:
http://db.tt/g4EMwRvV
October 7, 2012 at 6:48 am
On the C/Mallorca one you can see a bit of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia.
October 7, 2012 at 7:10 am
One last photo right before entering the civic centre:
http://db.tt/hup9saHC
October 7, 2012 at 6:13 am
Bad weather shines for Capriles. After 14 years of Chavez, opposition votes have more fire in their bellies. Abstention will favor Caprilles. Good luck Venezuela, your people deserve better. I can only hope and pray that the populace’s will be confirmed in the results.
October 7, 2012 at 5:20 am
I’m watching VTV these guys are breaking the law:
– They ran an ad of Chávez misión vivienda.
– They ran an ad saying verbatim that socialism is the way and that only in socialism we were able to win a gold medal on the olympics, they spot features the medal winner and some other athletes.
October 7, 2012 at 5:32 am
I’m watching VTV these guys are breaking the law.
So what else is new?
October 7, 2012 at 7:35 am
“…only in socialism we were able to win a gold medal on the olympics,”
Which was, of course, why he had to leave Venezuela to train in Europe…
October 7, 2012 at 5:04 am
Mi predicción es: 1300000 votos de dif a fav Capriles
Enviado desde mi dispositivo movil BlackBerry® de Digitel.
October 7, 2012 at 4:59 am
I’m setting an alarm to 6AM CET monday so I’m awake at 23:00 sunday Venezuela, that is of course if I manage to sleep tonight, not sure about that.
I’ll drop some links here to photos from the Barcelona (Spain) voting, we are going there at about 13:00 (in about an hour).
Best of luck to all.
October 7, 2012 at 5:00 am
23:30 I meant, I’m almost certain there won’t be any results yet given CNE track record.
October 7, 2012 at 3:57 am
Good luck to you all. As my old Dad was want to say “You may pray ’em if you got ’em”
October 7, 2012 at 3:35 am
Good luck on Monday morning….that’s when the real action begins.
October 7, 2012 at 2:25 am
Good luck to Venezuela and well done to you, Miguel! I hope you will wake up to a much better Venezuela on Monday morning.
October 7, 2012 at 1:55 am
Miguel, lo mejor para hoy. Aqui me tendras alentando a tu candidato. Espero que podamos festejar esta noche. Por el bien de Venezuela (y Argentina tambien).
Javier
October 7, 2012 at 1:24 am
Good luck Venezuela and Mr. Capriles. I hope it is convincing enough so that Hugo doesn’t get any ideas.
October 7, 2012 at 12:47 am
Good luck Venezuela!! I hope and pray that everybody votes safely and soundly! no blood please!!
BTW I saw Capriles @ sabanieves today and you are right, the guy was completely relaxed. Amazing
October 7, 2012 at 12:46 am
I can only echo what Tapatingo has said! Good luck, and stay safe, Miguel! Best wishes for all of Venezuela, and, of course, HAY UN CAMINO!!!
October 7, 2012 at 12:41 am
Good luck tomorrow! You’ve done an excellent job with the run up to this historic event!