Political parties celebrate a big victory as only 42% of voters participate in legislative and governor votes.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s governing party wiped out parliamentary and regional elections boycotted by the opposition parties.
Preliminary results released by the National Election Council (CNE) on Monday showed that Venezuela’s United Socialist Party (PSUV) and its allies had won 82.68% of the seats in the parliament the day before.
As a result, the party will ensure that it maintains control of key levers of power, including the attorney general’s office and the country’s top court where members are elected by the 285-seat parliament.
The CNE also said 23 of the governor’s 23 positions have won by flagging a setback against the opposition parties, which the government controlled the four states.
The voter turnout in the election was about 8.9 million or about 42% of the 21 million voters eligible to vote. CNE’s Chief Carlos Quintero pointed out that the numbers were the same as the 2021 election.
However, the country’s leading opposition leaders were urging voters to protest the July 2024 presidential election and boycott the election. The opposition claims they won the race, but authorities have declared Maduro the winner.
Opponent Maria Corina Machado declared in a post on X later on Sunday that in some parts of the country, up to 85% of eligible voters had snatched the election.
However, Maduro shrugged after the boycott.
“When your opponent withdraws from the field, we advance and occupy the terrain,” he effectively said the problem.
The dominant force was significantly lower in major cities in Venezuela, according to journalists and social media posts. Still, images posted by the government party showed many people lined up to vote in areas such as Trujillo and Amazons.
Thelesa Beau of Al Jazeera, who reported from Argentina, noted that during the campaign the opposition was split up with a boycott call, making it difficult for Maduro to present a stronger challenge.
She added that most analysts say “we can’t guarantee that elections are free and fair.”
Tensions rose Sunday, with over 400,000 security agents deployed to monitor the vote, and more than 70 people arrested.
Among those detained were key members of opposition members Juan Pablo Guanipa, who led a “terrorist network,” which planned to “stoop” the vote.
The government has warned multiple times in the past about coup plans for foreign aid, but said dozens of suspects have entered the country from Colombia, urging the closure of busy borders with neighbors until after the election.
Maduro’s success in recent elections has occurred despite economic decline, once Latin American vy hopes, along the way, more along the way, following years of mismanagement and sanctions.
US President Donald Trump recently revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to continue pumping Venezuela’s crude oil, potentially taking away Maduro’s important economic lifeline.
Washington also revoked deportation protections from the US’s 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants and expelled hundreds of other people to El Salvador’s largest security prison.
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