Venezuela ruling party keeps control of legislature amid opposition division
May 25 (Reuters) - Venezuela's ruling socialist party held its significant majority in the National Assembly in a Sunday election, winning nearly 83% of votes, the electoral authority said, in a contest marked by deep division among parties opposed to the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Some of the country's major opposition leaders called for voters to abstain from the vote in protest of the official results of the July 2024 presidential election, which the opposition says it won but which authorities say was won by Maduro.
Sunday's legislative results will keep the ruling party in control of the attorney general's office and the top court, whose members are elected by lawmakers.
Turnout to choose 24 state governors and 285 lawmakers was 8.9 million, said National Electoral Council (CNE) rector Carlos Quintero, the same figure as in 2021 elections. Some 21 million voters were eligible.
Opposition candidates won just one governorship, a fall from the four won by opposition parties in 2021.
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Watch: Colombian presidential candidate shot twice in the head
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Sky News
7 hours ago
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Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay in 'critical condition' after attempted assassination - as 15-year-old suspect arrested
A 15 year-old-boy has been arrested after a Colombian senator running to be the country's next president was shot and "critically" injured at a campaign rally in Bogota, authorities have said. Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, 39, was targeted during the campaign event in a park in the Fontibon area of the Colombian capital, according to the Attorney General's office. He suffered two gunshot wounds when armed assailants shot him from behind and appeared to be bleeding from his head as he was helped by aides and people in the crowd, in a video posted on social media. According to a medical report at the Santa Fe Foundation hospital, he was admitted there in a "critical condition" and is still undergoing a "neurosurgical and peripheral vascular procedure". His wife Maria Claudia Tarazone wrote on X that he is "fighting for his life" and urged Colombians to pray for him. Two other people were injured but the nature of their injuries has not been made public. A suspect, a 15-year-old boy, was arrested at the scene with a firearm and is being treated for a leg injury, police chief General Carlos Triana said. The government is offering a $730,000 (£540,000) reward for information and President Gustavo Petro said the investigation will focus on who ordered the attack. "For now there is nothing more than hypothesis," he said, adding that failures in security protocols would also be looked into. Mr Uribe Turbay, who announced his presidential bid for the right-wing Democratic Center Party in March, was accompanied by a team of 21 people at the time of the shooting, his office said, including councilman Andres Barrios. He was hoping to run in the presidential elections taking place on 31 May next year - and succeed Mr Petro, the country's first leftist leader. His mother, who was a journalist, was kidnapped and killed in 1991 during one of the most violent periods in Colombia's history. His party described it as an "unacceptable act of violence", while US secretary of state Marco Rubio condemned it in the "strongest possible terms". Writing on X, Mr Rubio also urged Colombia's current president to "dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials". Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, who is not related to Mr Uribe Turbay, said the gunman had "attacked the hope of the country, a great husband, son, brother, and a great colleague". He cancelled a planned trip to France due to the "seriousness of the events", his office said in a statement. Messages of support poured in from elsewhere in Latin America, with Chilean President Gabriel Boric saying: "There is no room or justification for violence in a democracy." Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa added: "We condemn all forms of violence and intolerance."
Reuters
9 hours ago
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Ecuador national assembly passes gang-fighting reforms
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