Venezuelans vote in regional elections

Public opinion surveys predicted that the opposition would win a majority of state governorships despite alleged government efforts to suppress a high turnout through last minute changes in voting places and other tactics. 

An estimated 18 million people are eligible to elect governors to four-year terms in 23 states. Voting got off to a slow start at 6 am (local time), when the country’s more than 13,500 voting stations opened, local reports stated. 

The opposition Democratic Union Roundtable (MUD) coalition called Saturday on Maduro to immediately expel “Nicaraguan advisers” who it said had been brought to Venezuela to carry out electoral fraud.