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00:00Let's move on to Venezuela now and tension and anticipation has greeted the country this Sunday as it heads to the polls in one of the
00:07Crucial presidential elections in modern history
00:10The results of the vote could lead to a seismic shift in politics with retired diplomat Edmundo González
00:16Or it could extend by six years the same policies that have caused the world's worst
00:21peacetime economic collapse with current president Nicolas Maduro
00:25Let's a take a listen to what he's had to say though
00:31So in Nicolás, I am Nicolas Maduro Mars
00:35President of the people and I recognize and will recognize the electoral referee the official bulletins
00:42And I will ensure that they are respected
00:45Look, we'll let you know if I call on the ten presidential candidates
00:4938 political parties
00:52To make them
00:54Declare publicly that they will respect the official bulletin of the body
01:05Well joining me now to discuss the vote is a doctor I'm a lendu Mishra
01:10She's a professor of international politics at the University of Lancaster doctor. Thank you so much for joining us here on France 24
01:18This is a build as a huge
01:21Election in terms of what's at stake with Nicolas Maduro possibly extending his term
01:27And then on the other side, you've got Edmundo González just what?
01:32Have Venezuelans been saying what they are anticipating and is there a chance of change or is it more of the same?
01:41Well, good evening. First of all
01:43This is going to be a seismic change as you have said the indications are that
01:48The opposition has got a massive lead
01:51But it all depends on how the current president Nicolas Maduro responds to the outcome if he decides to
01:59Not recognize the outcome then obviously there is going to be a kind of civil war like situation in the country
02:04We have already seen more than eight million
02:07Venezuelans leave the country that is almost one part of the population and
02:12If there is another six years of continuation of Maduro which cannot be possibly the opinion polls have to be believed
02:19Then that is not going to happen
02:21but given that the stranglehold that
02:24Nicolas Maduro has on the country's politics
02:27So it is definitely going to undermine the people's faith in the system and a little earlier
02:34I was talking to two Venezuelans who go by the name of Manuel Amante and Teresa Romero
02:40Who were kind of fled the country Venezuela in fact and their voice was that we have to have a change
02:47Because we can't let this continue for anymore. So this is what the
02:53Venezuelans living outside Venezuela are talking about
02:57So definitely there has to be change
02:59But if it is going to be more of the same then there is definitely going to be a massive
03:04Unrest in the country in what form we don't know it as yet
03:08Well, Nicolas Maduro has said that this is the most transparent election in the world
03:15How do you respond to that?
03:17Well, I mean this is a kind of joke
03:19I mean, how can it be transparent when you sort of barred the main opposition leader? Let's remember that the current
03:27running mate of Nicolas Maduro is the third choice because sort of given that Maduro has got
03:33Such control over judiciary he managed to dismiss the other two front-runners Maria Masato in particular
03:39Sort of making her kind of candidates null and void for the next 15 years
03:44And let's not remember Maduro remained in power because the last time around in
03:512018 there was a boycott of the election by the
03:55opposition so it has never been
03:57Transparent it has never been fair and that has been the verdict of
04:03Organization of American states in the past
04:05So no one is going to buy the argument that this is going to be transparent and fair this time around and when we have
04:11the more opinion polls suggesting that
04:13Edmundo Gonzalez has got to 59 percent of the votes there and Maduro has got 12.9 percent. So
04:19Nobody is going to buy even the Venezuelans living abroad and within the country
04:24Then what can I mean if we could talk about a hypothetical situation here where?
04:30The votes don't translate to what the polls do say and
04:35There there might be some kind of a problem. What can the community around of Venezuela do specifically in Latin America?
04:44Well, obviously we have kind of descent already coming from several neighboring countries and notably
04:53Ignacio Lula in Brazil the current Brazilian president who has said that who sort of says the same kind of left-leaning
05:00ideology with Maduro and he has gone on record to suggest that it's the
05:04Responsibility of the current government to make sure that the election process is fair and transparent
05:10But the bigger challenge is that Venezuelans are those who have been left in the country
05:14I'm not going to bind to any of the rhetoric that Maduro is trying to
05:18highlight because the social
05:21Programs that he had introduced are not kind of delivering to the masses. So his base has reduced
05:28considerably and
05:30Satisfied because there has been a massive
05:34Downturn in terms of its export of the crude the fall in the prices of that
05:39So Nicholas Maduro, although if he can manipulate if he holds on to power
05:44He simply won't have the economic resources to deliver to his key
05:49Constituency who have supported him so far
05:51So it is a kind of a tough call for him and he might just bow down and let
05:57Venezuelans
05:59sort of go for
06:01Gonzalo and
06:03Then Gonzalo Sarri and then we might have reduction of sanctions
06:07Especially from the United States who would like to see a kind of change of guard so to speak. Well, dr
06:14Misra, let's talk about where the country is standing economically right now. They're being led by a former bus driver
06:20and his economic policy is finally if you could say the chickens are coming home to roost in the terms of the fact that
06:27Maybe we are seeing that shift
06:30What is the current situation of Venezuela in a nutshell?
06:35well, let's say Venezuela is currently experiencing almost 1,000 percent of inflation and
06:41Minimum wage is 135 US dollars and to just to break even I was talking to as I said these two Venezuelans
06:48Manuel Amante and
06:50Teresa Romero and they were saying that
06:53their families can't even get the minimum wage of
06:57$135 let alone
06:59$500 that is required to just break even so the situation is there on the ground those who have been left behind and if
07:07The Maduro regime continues then we'll see another exodus of
07:11Venezuelans moving out of the country and there are no food on the shelves
07:16And as I said, I have been talking to the Venezuelan expatriate community in Mexico and elsewhere and this is their opinion
07:23So it is the economy is ruined
07:25The lifestyle is ruined for almost the majority of the Venezuelans only ones who have been somehow
07:33Continuing with the similar lifestyle is army the civil servants and others
07:37But if you don't have a change of guard that particular constituency also will face the dire economic
07:44Situation that others are facing. I think
07:47Maduro regime would realize it sooner than later and let the opposition
07:53Win in a clear fair and transparent manner. That's my belief. Let's see if those beliefs do come true. Dr
08:00Malinda Mishra, thank you so much for giving us your thoughts from the Lancaster University in the UK