Experts fear Venezuela's Maduro could steal Sunday's election as opposition leads in polls

Venezuelans head to the polls on Sunday for their first full presidential election in over a decade after opposition parties ended their boycott and coalesced around a single candidate in hopes of ousting the current regime.

"The de facto opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has galvanized the Venezuelan people to the point that both Chavistas and anti-Chavistas in Venezuela want a change," Joseph Humire, the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), told Fox News Digital.

"But changing the president is not enough," Humire cautioned. "Regardless of who is Venezuela’s next president, the criminal system embedded in Venezuelan institutions will adapt and continue operating. An internal effort is necessary but insufficient to dismantle the Venezuela Threat Network."

"Yet, this doesn’t take away from what Maria Corina has done regardless of the outcome on Sunday – give Venezuelans another chance," he added.

VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS' BARBARIC CRIMES COME AS MADURO REFUSES TO TAKE BACK ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM US

Opposition supporters have backed Edmundo Gonzalez, who had an overwhelming lead over the incumbent Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro heading into the weekend, according to the BBC. Maduro has warned that a defeat for his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) would result in a "bloodbath."

PSUV led a coalition that holds 256 of the 277 seats in the country’s National Assembly, and has control over Supreme Tribunal of Justice courts and the National Electoral Council. The opposition could never unite behind a single candidate, and parties boycotted the 2018 election because of accusations that free and fair elections were not possible under Maduro’s government.

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