Venezuelan election could lead to a seismic shift in politics or give President Maduro 6 more years

Venezuelans are voting Sunday in a presidential election whose outcome will either lead to a seismic shift in politics or extend by six more years the policies that caused the world's worst peacetime economic collapse.

Venezuelans are voting Sunday in a presidential election whose outcome will either lead to a seismic shift in politics or extend by six more years the policies that caused the world's worst peacetime economic collapse.

Whether it is President Nicolas Maduro who is chosen, or his main opponent, retired diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, the election will have ripple effects throughout the Americas. Government opponents and supporters alike have signalled their interest in joining the exodus of 7.7 million Venezuelans who have already left their homes for opportunities abroad should Maduro win another term.

Polls opened at 6 a.m., but voters started lining up at some voting centres across the country much earlier, sharing water, coffee and snacks for several hours.

Alejandro Sulbaran nagged the first spot at his voting center by getting in line at 5 p.m. Saturday. He said he stood outside an elementary school in a hillside suburb of the capital, Caracas, for "the future of the country."

"We are all here for the change we want," Sulbaran, 74, who runs a maintenance business, said as other voters nodded in agreement.

The number of eligible voters for this presidential election is estimated to be around 17 million. Polls close at 6 p.m., but it's not clear when the electoral authorities will release the first results.

Authorities set Sunday's election to coincide with what would have been the 70th birthday of former President Hugo Chavez, the revered leftist firebrand who died of cancer in 2013, leaving his Bolivarian revolution in the hands of Maduro. But Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela are more unpopular than ever among many voters who blame his policies for crushing wages, spurring hunger, crippling the oil industry and separating families due to migration.