Buenos Aires: Millions of Venezuelans fleeing their country’s economic woes may not be able to vote in crucial presidential elections in July, as complaints at foreign consulates against prospective registrants mount.
“We want to vote, we want to vote!” A small group of Venezuelans protested outside the Argentine consulate in the capital in recent days, chanting taunts and shouting slogans after being banned from registering.
Registration will begin on March 18 and will continue a month before the July 28 election on President Nicolas Maduro’s bid for a third term.
However, in some Latin American and European countries, this process has not yet begun.
“Each consulate has its own requirements for language communication, there is no official one … there is no single criterion,” said Venezuelan Adriana Flores outside the consulate in Buenos Aires.
The United Nations estimates that nearly eight million Venezuelans have fled their country since 2014, a year after Maduro took office.
The last decade has witnessed a severe economic crisis characterized by rampant inflation and food and medicine shortages that have left the population impoverished.
Sumate, a Venezuelan civil rights NGO, estimates that 5.2 million expatriates need to register to vote for the first time or update their information from abroad.
The voter list was last updated for the 2018 elections, when only 107,000 Venezuelans from abroad were registered.
In Colombia, Venezuela’s population of 2.8 million, registration opened a week late and so far no one has signed up, said Eduardo Battistini, an opposition leader who lives in the country.
He said Venezuelan authorities do not consider the “temporary protection status” granted to its citizens by Colombia to be official proof of residency that allows them to register.
