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Venezuelan voters were also asked to choose representatives for the Essequibo region, a territory long administered and controlled by neighbouring Guyana which Venezuela claims as its own.

As Venezuela is not in control of the Essequibo, there were no polling stations in the territory nor did the people living there get a chance to vote.

Neil Villamizar, an admiral loyal to President Maduro, won the unusual vote and will now be declared "governor of Essequibo" by the Venezuelan government even though he has no power or control over the territory, which remains in Guyanese hands.

The US also backs Guyana in its territorial dispute with Venezuela over the vast Essequibo region that forms the western two thirds of Guyana.

Because this is where the swathe of Guyanese territory known as Essequibo - the two-thirds of Guyana that lies west of the Essequibo River - meets the Venezuelan border.