Venezuelan electoral authority declares Maduro party victorious
BerlincTypeface:> 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.
According to the Interior Ministry, security forces arrested more than 70 people, including prominent opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa.
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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Qatar Tribune
26-05-2025
- Qatar Tribune
Venezuelan electoral authority declares Maduro party victorious
BerlincTypeface:> 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. According to the Interior Ministry, security forces arrested more than 70 people, including prominent opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa. 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.
Al Jazeera
26-05-2025
- Al Jazeera
Venezuela election results: Who lost, won and what next?
Venezuela's ruling coalition, led by President Nicolas Maduro, has won the parliamentary and regional elections by a landslide, maintaining a significant majority in the powerful National Assembly, according to the country's electoral authority. Sunday's legislative and gubernatorial elections were held as several opposition groups called for a boycott in response to what they described as fraudulent results of the July 2024 presidential vote. Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 disputed vote. Following the results, the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) will continue to control key institutions, such as the attorney general's office and the supreme court, as their members are chosen by the 285-member assembly. Here is what you need to know about parliamentary and regional elections: Preliminary results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday showed that the PSUV and its allies won 82.68 percent of the votes cast the previous day for seats in the National Assembly. The ruling coalition also won 23 out of 24 state governor positions, the CNE said. A coalition considered close to the ruling socialist party won 6.25 percent of the vote, while an opposition alliance won 5.17 percent, CNE rector Carlos Quintero said in a declaration broadcast on state television. Maduro hailed the election results as a 'victory of peace and stability' and said it 'proved the power of Chavismo' – the left-wing, populist political movement founded by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez. The CNE oversaw Sunday's election for 260 state legislators, 285 members of the unicameral National Assembly and all 24 governors, including the newly created governorship purportedly established to administer Essequibo, a region long under dispute between Venezuela and neighbouring Guyana. Opposition candidates won the governorship of Cojedes state, a fall from the four they won in 2021. The Venezuelan government revised the electoral boundaries to elect a governor and eight representatives for the Essequibo, an oil-rich region that Caracas disputes with Guyana in a colonial-era dispute. The vote took place in a micro-district of 21,403 voters in Venezuela's Bolivar state, on the Guyanese border. Caracas had specially created it for Sunday's legislative and regional elections. There were no polling stations in the 160,000sq km (61,776sq miles) territory of Essequibo, administered by Georgetown. Guyana has administered the region for decades, but Caracas has threatened to partially annex it – a threat that Maduro repeated on Sunday. The Guyanese government, before the vote, warned that participating in Venezuela's election could amount to treason. The Maduro government last year passed a law creating a new state in the disputed territory, despite the ongoing case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Venezuelan actions have come despite a 2023 court order asking Caracas to avoid any action that would change the status quo of the territory. The Venezuelan government has said it does not recognise the court's authority in the case. Opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado declared in a post on X late on Sunday that in some areas of the country, up to 85 percent of eligible voters snubbed the election, which she slammed as an 'enormous farce that the regime is trying to stage to bury its defeat' in last year's election. Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognised by the United States and several other countries as the winner of the July 2024 presidential election, said, 'We witnessed an event that attempted to disguise itself as an election, but failed to deceive the country or the world.' 'What the world saw today was an act of civic courage. A silent but powerful declaration that the desire for change, dignity, and a future remains intact,' he said in a post on X. Meanwhile, another opposition faction, headed by two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles and Zulia state Governor Manuel Rosales, urged people to vote to avoid the opposition being cut out of all governance. Capriles was elected to the National Assembly, while Rosales lost his governor's seat. Turnout in the elections was 8.9 million, or roughly 42 percent of 21 million voters eligible to cast their ballots, according to the CNE. However, the country's main opposition leaders had urged voters to boycott the election in protest over the July 2024 presidential election. The results are a big boost for Maduro who will further consolidate power as the ruling coalition now exercises almost complete control over the democratic institutions. It will also demoralise the opposition, which has been in a disarray, with the executive secretary of the opposition's Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), Omar Barboza, stepping down in March. Barboza cited lack of unity as one of the reasons to quit his post weeks before the elections. Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from Argentina, noted that during the campaign, the opposition had been divided on the boycott call, making it difficult to present a more forceful challenge against Maduro. She added that most analysts have said they 'could not guarantee if the elections were free and fair'. 'They denounced the lack of international observers, among other things,' she said. Maduro's success in recent elections comes despite the decline of the economy following years of mismanagement and international sanctions. US President Donald Trump has recently revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to continue pumping Venezuelan crude, potentially depriving Maduro's administration of a vital economic lifeline. Licence to Chevron was given in 2022 under Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, after Maduro agreed to work with the opposition towards a democratic election. Washington has also started to deport Venezuelan immigrants, many of them to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Last week, the US Supreme Court revoked the deportation protection for some 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants in the US.
Al Jazeera
26-05-2025
- Al Jazeera
Maduro triumphs in Venezuelan election boycotted by opposition
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's governing party has swept parliamentary and regional elections that were boycotted by the opposition. Preliminary results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday showed that the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its allies won 82.68 percent of votes cast the previous day for seats in the National Assembly. That result ensures that the party will maintain control of key levers of power, including the attorney general's office and the country's top court, whose members are elected by the 285-seat assembly. CNE also said that 23 out of 24 state governor positions were won by the government flagging a setback for the opposition, which previously controlled four states. Turnout in the elections was 8.9 million or roughly 42 percent of 21 million voters eligible to cast their ballots. CNE chief Carlos Quintero noted that was the same figure as in the 2021 elections. However, the country's main opposition leaders had urged voters to boycott the election in protest over July's 2024 presidential election. The opposition insists that it won that race but authorities declared Maduro the winner. Opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado declared in a post on X late on Sunday that in some areas of the country, up to 85 percent of eligible voters snubbed the election, which she slammed as an 'enormous farce that the regime is trying to stage to bury its defeat' in last year's election. Maduro, however, shrugged off the boycott. 'When the opponent withdraws from the field, we advance and occupy the terrain,' he said matter-of-factly. According to journalists and social media posts, turnout was noticeably low in Venezuela's main cities. Still, images posted by the government party showed scores of people lining up to vote in areas like Trujillo and the Amazons. Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from Argentina, noted that during the campaign, the opposition had been divided on the boycott call, making it difficult to present a more forceful challenge against Maduro. She added that most analysts have said that they 'could not guarantee if the elections were free and fair'. Tensions were high on Sunday, with more than 400,000 security agents deployed to monitor the vote and more than 70 people arrested. Among those detained was leading opposition member Juan Pablo Guanipa on charges of heading a 'terrorist network' that planned to 'sabotage' the vote. The government, which has warned of foreign-backed coup plots many times in the past, said dozens of suspected mercenaries had entered the country from Colombia, prompting the closure of the busy border with its neighbour until after the election. Maduro's success in recent elections comes despite the decline of the economy, once the envy of Latin America, following years of mismanagement and sanctions, with more on the way. United States President Donald Trump has recently revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to continue pumping Venezuelan crude, potentially depriving Maduro's administration of a vital economic lifeline. Washington has also revoked deportation protection from 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in the US and expelled hundreds of others to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.
