Venezuelan electoral authority declares Maduro party victorious
Venezuela's pro-government electoral authority (CNE) has announced that the country's ruling parties won in the parliamentary and regional elections.
Preliminary results suggest President Nicolás Maduro's socialist ruling party PSUV and its allies won 82.7% of the votes, the CNE announced during Sunday night, according to the state news agency AVN.
The South American country's electoral authority said smaller opposition parties received 17% of the votes. It said voter turnout was around 43%.
Maduro celebrated the election results in front of supporters in the capital Caracas as a "victory for peace and stability." Twenty-three of the 24 governor posts went to candidates from the ruling camp.
The largest opposition parties criticized the vote as a farce, and had called for a boycott of the elections. According to the opposition, turnout was far lower due to the boycott, at only around 15% of eligible voters.
The election was preceded by a wave of arrests of opposition figures. According to the Interior Ministry, security forces arrested more than 70 people, including prominent opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa.
The authoritarian government in Caracas accuses them of planning terrorist attacks on embassies, hospitals, police stations and power stations in order to disrupt the vote.
Around 21 million Venezuelans were eligible to vote in the elections for the 285 members of parliament, 24 governors and numerous mayors, city councillors and local representatives.
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