Following the 2017 Venezuelan constitutional crisis, protests in Venezuela intensified in mid-2017, though the movement died down after President Maduro called for a controversial special election, which resulted with the installation of the pro-government[citation needed] superbody, the Constituent National Assembly.

[citation needed] After the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees was signed on 1 March by the political parties Great Patriotic Pole, Movimiento al Socialismo, Avanzada Progresista, and COPEI, the United Nations was asked, with a formal invitation and visit by the main candidates or their representatives, to send a delegation to monitor the election.

[39] These observers included the Latin American Council on Electoral Experts, Common Frontiers, Unifor, former Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and former President of Ecuador Rafael Correa.

On 14 March 2017, Popular Will announced that Leopoldo López, the party's National Coordinator who is currently imprisoned for his role in the 2014 protests against the Bolivarian government, was chosen to be their candidate for the MUD primaries.

[43] In February 2018, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) announced that it would boycott the presidential election, saying the electoral system was rigged in favor of incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

[55] In late January 2018, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice blocked the revalidation of the Democratic Unity Roundtable card, the most voted in the electoral history of the country, and was also banned.

[66] Bertucci is against abortion and believes same-sex partners should not adopt children, stating, "I respect and love any person who has a different sexual orientation, but in a legal sense, I would have to tell them categorically that I would never support this".

[75] Bertucci denounced that his campaign manager in Sucre state, Ángel Arias, was shot in the stomach on 27 April while making preparations for a midday speech scheduled in Cumaná.

According to a press release of Bertucci's party, a 25-year-old man shot Arias after trying to steal his cellphone; the robber did not achieve his mission and fled by motorcycle, leaving the manager at the scene.

This people will never stand a sellout and capitalist government, that is why we have to prepare ourselves to defend in peace the sovereignty and democracy of Venezuela On 1 May, in Cojedes state, Maduro threatened taking action against supermarkets and food centers nationwide if they increased the prices of products in the following days, declaring that after the 20 May election "I'll be president anyway...by hook or by crook"".

During his speech of the campaign closure, Maduro expressed that Bolívar Avenue was "overwhelmed", but Winston Vallenilla once asked the assistants to come closer to fill the empty spaces and publications on social networks of deputy Luis Florido and other persons refuted the claim.

"[citation needed] A Venezuelan in Rome published a video explaining that he found a large painting on a wall promoting the vote for Maduro and complaining that the country's money is wasted on placing said messages abroad.

In the morning officials of the Bolivarian National Police with anti-riot equipment forced the protesters in the Brión Square [es] in Chacao to leave, arguing they did not have permission to meet in the public space.

[91][92] According to Meganálisis, an April 2018 poll found that 65.4% of respondents believed that Falcón was working in collaboration with President Maduro to create the fraudulent appearance of a legitimate democratic election.

Even though to vote only a laminated identity card is needed, active passports, original birth certificates, visas, residence letters, and other administrative requirements not covered by law were requested by consulates and embassies, preventing their participation in the elections.

On 27 March, the CEPAZ director Beatriz Borges declared that "the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees is a scam for the citizen since it covers initiatives that were already established in the Law and that the CNE has not met".

I am thinking of giving a prize to the people of Venezuela who go out to vote that day with the Carnet de la PatriaIn a visit to Delta Amacuro, president and reelection candidate Nicolás Maduro gave away eight motor boats, nine ambulances, and reopened the "Antonio Díaz" Tucupita Airport, among other announcements, violating Article 223 of the Organic Law of Electoral Processes which forbids the use of state resources during election campaigns, as well as one of the prerogatives in the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees signed by the presidential candidates to the CNE.

The New York Times interviewed Cuban medical professionals in 2019 who had worked for Barrio Adentro prior to the election; sixteen revealed that they were required to participate in voting fraud.

[111] But they also "described a system of deliberate political manipulation"; their services as medical professionals "were wielded to secure votes for the governing Socialist Party, often through coercion", they told The New York Times.

[97] The Electoral Citizen Network described as "irregular" the order of the Constituent Assembly to summon presidential elections before 30 April 2018, defining that it was a violation of the constitution and civil rights.

[130] Former Venezuelan legislator Alexis Ortiz stated that "Castrochavism [...] rots in incompetence, corruption, and surrender of national sovereignty", calling on a transitional government to work on reconciliation, establish general elections, receive humanitarian assistance and protect civil liberties, among other requests.

[137][138] The head of the Caracas-based Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy Griselda Colina and former Director of the Carter Center's Americas Program Jennifer McCoy concluded that Maduro's victory could not be considered democratic due to a wide range of failings in prevailing electoral conditions.

[139] United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein noted that his office had concerns that reports of extrajudicial killings cast doubts on fairness, stating "this context does not in any way fulfill minimal conditions for free and credible elections".

The 19 countries that supported the resolution were Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, the United States, and Uruguay.

[158][159] Remaining member governments representing countries from the Lima Group, including Brazil, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and Saint Lucia, denounced the elections in a joint statement through declarations made by the organization.

[164] CNE rector and president of the Political Participation and Finance Commission Luis Emilio Rondón González [es] announced his rejection of the electoral results, stating that "clearly they were flawed".

Rondón offered the office of the commission to the candidates to file their irregularities reports that they exposed to "organize the claims that correspond to the clarification of all these aspects that disrupt the electoral process".

[10][11] On 28 May 2018, the Council of the European Union, with its members representing the executive governments of members states including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, refused to recognize the election results and called for new, democratic elections.

[166] The Lima Group—comprising Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Saint Lucia—announced that it would not recognize the results.

Antigua and Barbuda,[160] Belarus, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, El Salvador, Iran, North Korea,[163] South Africa, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, Turkey (the only NATO member), Vietnam and the disputed state of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) recognized the election result.