Caracas, Oct 16 (IANS): Venezuela's regional vote to elect state governors and legislators would "consolidate the environment of peace", said a leader of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

Jorge Rodriguez, Mayor of the capital city Caracas, called the elections an "expression of sovereignty" by the voters, Xinhua reported.

"The peace which the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) has brought is being consolidated today," he said at a press conference on Sunday after offering an evaluation of the day's elections alongside ANC President Delcy Rodriguez.

On Sunday, over 18 million Venezuelans were called upon to vote for 197 candidates running for the country's 23 governorships.

The regional elections were first postponed due to the country's economic crisis and political conflicts, then scheduled for December 10, until the newly-elected ANC tasked to rewrite the Constitution agreed to move up the vote to October 15.

As the former head of Venezuela's electoral body, the National Electoral Council, Jorge Rodriguez said Venezuela "is one of the few countries in the world to give results in real time".

With regard to a high expected turnout, he said the vote was going well "with the best electoral power in the whole world".

Julio Borges, the President of the National Assembly controlled by the opposition party, also commented that the electoral process "has been going well ... with a good turnout".

As a legislator for the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), Borges encouraged everyone to vote, saying "we are not only voting for governors" but for "democracy in Venezuela".

"Our call is to vote with absolute freedom and conscience for whoever you like."