Venezuelan Indigenous Citizens To Elect 69 Councilors On Friday

On Friday, as part of the subnational electoral process, 4,334 Indigenous representatives will go to the polls to elect 69 councilors and 8 legislators for the states of Amazonas, Anzoategui, Apure, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro, Monagas, Sucre and Zulia.

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"These elections reaffirm the active participation of Indigenous citizens in our country's political, economic, and social processes. The Venezuelan people rule the destinies of their country," United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Indigenous Peoples Committee Vice-President Aloha Nuñez stated.

"This process is carried out considering the traditions and customs of our Indigenous peoples. Therefore, its date and modality do not coincide with those of the subnational elections."

Unlike the previous process, the National Electoral Council (CNE) established that Indigenous representatives previously elected through popular assemblies vote on behalf of their peoples in these elections, whose voting system will be manual. 

So far, everything goes smoothly in 74 voting centers enabled for the process, with experts predicting that the participation rate will be high. The CNE announced that it will give a report of preliminary results in the night. 

"The first condition for guaranteeing the rights of Indigenous peoples is to respect their culture and to ensure that they can decide on the destiny of our country," Nuñez stressed and urged all representatives to cast their votes.