CANADIAN officials confirmed yesterday that 5,000 expatriate Venezuelans will be barred from voting at their embassy or consulates in this weekend’s presidential election.

The unnamed officials tried to blame President Nicolas Maduro, claiming that he has failed to allow Venezuelans to freely express their democratic rights, such as by banning leading opposition parties from participating.

For good measure, they said Caracas also missed a deadline for asking to open the polling stations.

Venezuela Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza called Canada’s decision hostile and urged its government to reconsider.

“Who is preventing the right to suffrage and to vote here?” he asked.

“Only dictatorship countries do not allow citizens to exercise their right to vote, so I ask if Venezuela, according to some world nations, is a dictatorship, how is it that today Canada intends to curtail the right to vote of Venezuelans?”

President Maduro is seeking a second term in Sunday’s election.