CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolas Maduro faces his first electoral test since being elected nearly eight months ago, as Venezuelans go to the polls on Sunday to judge his government's response to their nation's mounting economic troubles.
The vote for mayors and city councils in this deeply polarized country was bound to be competitive after Maduro defeated opposition leader Henrique Capriles by a razor-thin margin in the election held in April to choose Hugo Chavez's successor following his death from cancer.
Capriles has refused to recognize the results, alleging fraud
Since then, Venezuela's economic troubles have deepened, with inflation touching a two-decade high of 54 percent, and shortages of everything from toilet paper to milk spreading while the black market value of the currency plunges.
Not surprisingly, disapproval of Maduro's rule had been rising, especially within the coalition of ideological leftists and members of the military that he inherited from Chavez.
But the 51-year-old former bus driver has managed to regain momentum by going after groups and businesses he accuses of waging an "economic war" against his socialist government.
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