Venezuela’s ruling party won 23 of the 24 governorates and retains the majority of the National Assembly by obtaining almost 83% of the votesthe Electoral Council said on Sunday, in elections marked by a deep division of the parties contrary to the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Some of the main opposition leaders of the country had asked voters to refrain from voting after the official results of the presidential elections of July 2024, that the opposition claims to have won, but that the authorities attribute President Nicolás Maduro.
The participation in the elections to choose 24 governors and 285 national deputies was 42.6% of the 21 million enabled to coveraccording to the electoral authority, almost similar to the regional of 2021.
Among the official deputies who repeat in their positions are Jorge Rodríguez, current president of the National Assembly and the First Lady, Cilia Flores. The electoral authority gave a partial list of legislators.
“After 26 years of revolution, blockages and sanctions, today it has demonstrated the revolution that is more in force and stronger than ever. The strength of Chavismo has been demonstrated, “Maduro said in a speech in downtown Caracas after the electoral results.
The opposition stayed with 1 of the 4 governorates, including the emblematic Barinas, Where was the late President Hugo Chávez, and Zulia, the oil state that has been on the hands of opponents.
An opposition sector led by former candidate Edmundo González and opponent María Corina Machado called on abstention in Sunday’s elections as a protest to what happened in the presidential ones. While another sector, headed by another former presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, and the governor of Zulia, Manuel Rosales, insisted on voting not to “lose spaces.”
The opposition will have three deputies, including Capriles, and will be a minority that does not prevent blocking official initiativesamong which is a possible constitutional reform.
In the main cities of the country, the electoral centers registered low influx, according to Reuters witnesses
“I went out afraid because being on the street causes apprehension, the weather was tense. María Corina said that we would not leave but I feel that we cannot give up,” María Rosa Espina said a 65 -year -old retired worker in Maracaibo, capital of Zulia state, west of Venezuela.
The months elapsed since the 2024 vote have been marked by González’s departure to Spain, the passage to hiding in the country of Machado and the arrest of opposition leaders and activists.
The opponent Juan Pablo Guanipa, very close to Machado, was arrested on Friday.
In Sunday’s vote a governor and six deputies were chosen for the so -called Guayana Esequiba state, despite the fact that the International Court of Justice, CiJ, he said that Venezuela should not celebrate elections in that region, an area in dispute with Guyana in an old border lawsuit.
The Parliament of Guyana approved on Friday a resolution that strongly condemns the “challenge” of Venezuela to the order of the ICJ, claiming that it represents a threat to regional peace and stability. The Venezuelan government has pointed out that it does not recognize or comply with the boons of the Court.
Washington increased sanctions against Venezuela after the presidential elections and the administration of President Donald Trump has given a term until May 27 to operate in the country to oil firms such as Chevron and other partners of the state -owned PDVSA. Maduro, president since 2013, has rejected the sanctions of the United States and others, saying that they are illegitimate measures that are equivalent to an “economic warfare
