Latest news with #elecciones
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Confusion and concern loom over Mexico's historic judicial election
Monterrey, Mexico – There will be more than 7,000 candidates. More than 2,600 open positions. And at least six ballots per person to weigh them all. On Sunday, Mexico embarks on an election believed to be the first of its kind: Voters will cast ballots for all of the country's judges, half now and half in 2027. Judges of all levels will be in the running. Some candidates are competing to serve on the Supreme Court. Others are aiming for federal district or circuit courts. Still more are competing for the thousands of open positions on the state and local levels. By one estimate, if a voter spent five minutes researching each federal candidate on their ballot, they would need more than 15 hours to complete the task. Therein lies the dilemma, according to many election experts. While the Mexican government has touted the election as a milestone in democratic participation, critics fear the vote could in fact be vulnerable to political manipulation or criminal groups. Julio Rios Figueroa, a law professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), considers the election a step towards "democratic erosion". He fears the vote "will eliminate the judiciary as a countervailing factor" that balances other more overtly political branches of government, like the presidency and Congress. Then, of course, there's the sheer challenge of keeping track of all the candidates. 'For a citizen who has the time and the interest, it's a very difficult task," Ríos Figueroa said. "Now, there are many citizens who don't have the time or the interest."
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Mexico's Judicial Reform Is Now In the Hands of Confused Voters
It's an election unlike any other in Mexico. No sports stadiums packed with the party faithful. The smiling faces of normally omnipresent candidates almost completely absent on TV or glitzy posters. But the stakes couldn't be higher. On Sunday, Mexicans will begin electing judges from among thousands of largely unknown candidates in a vote critics slam as a radical experiment that will mark the end of an independent judiciary.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Venezuela's ruling party claims victory despite opposition boycott
Venezuela's ruling party is celebrating what it has described as "an overwhelming victory" in regional and parliamentary elections, which were boycotted by the majority of opposition electoral council (CNE), which is dominated by government loyalists, says candidates for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela's (PSUV) - President Nicolás Maduro's party - won the race for governor in 23 out of the country's 24 to the CNE, the ruling coalition also won 82.68% of the votes cast for the National Assembly, Venezuela's legislative body. The main opposition parties called the elections a "farce". Opposition leader, María Corina Machado, said turnout had been below 15%. "More than 85% of Venezuelans did not obey this regime and said 'no'," Machado said about those who journalists who visited polling stations throughout the day said that they saw no queues and fewer people turning out than for the presidential election last CNE meanwhile put the turn-out at 42.6%.The opposition has long questioned the independence of the CNE, which is led by Elvis Amoroso, a former legal counsel to President CNE came in for widespread international criticism in last year when it declared Mr Maduro the winner of the presidential election without ever providing the detailed voting tallies to back up their claim. Venezuela's opposition, meanwhile, published voting tallies it had gathered with the help of official election observers which showed that its candidate, Edmundo González, was the overwhelming winner. Amid the wave of repression and arrests which followed the presidential election, González went into exile to Spain. Machado, who threw her weight behind presidential hopeful Edmundo González after she was barred from running for public office, remained in was the main advocate for boycotting this Sunday's legislative and gubernatorial elections, saying that the result of July's presidential election should be respected before any new elections are held."We voted on 28 July. On 25 May, we won't vote," she said in a video message shared earlier this month. However, a handful of opposition politicians did run for office, arguing that leaving the field open to government candidates was a them were former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, Zulia state governor Manuel Rosales and Juan Requesens, who was jailed by the Maduro government for allegedly taking part in a 2018 drone attack on the president. Capriles told Spanish daily El País that for him "voting in Venezuela is an expression of resistance, of resilience, of not giving up".Their decision to stand in the elections was criticised by those calling for a boycott, with Machado saying they had "betrayed the cause". With turnout low, President Maduro's PSUV party sailed to victory in 23 of the 24 gubernatorial races, up from the 20 governor posts it previously to the preliminary results of the legislative election, the coalition backing President Maduro won an absolute majority of the 285 seats. But three politicians from Henrique Capriles' opposition UNT party were also voted into the National Assembly, including Capriles himself. Maduro has hailed the result as a "victory of peace and stability" and celebrated the fact that his party had regained control of the states of Zulia and, in particular, Barinas, the home state of his predecessor in office and political mentor, Hugo Chá the state of Cojedes will now be in opposition hands, following the re-election of opposition candidate Alberto Galíndez. Sunday's vote was preceded by a wave of arrests, which saw more than 70 people with links to the opposition detained for allegedly "planning to sabotage the election".Among those detained is Juan Pablo Guanipa, 60, a close ally of María Corina Machado. The interior minister accused him of being "one of the leaders of this terrorist network" which he claimed had been plotting to disrupt the election by planting bombs at key sites. Machado said his arrest and those of dozens of others was "state terrorism, pure and simple". Venezuelan voters were also asked to choose representatives for the Essequibo region, a territory long administered and controlled by neighbouring Guyana which Venezuela claims as its own. The territorial dispute has been submitted by Guyana to the International Court of Justice, which had ordered Venezuela to refrain from conducting elections for representatives for the region, an order which the Maduro government Venezuela is not in control of the Essequibo, there were no polling stations in the territory nor did the people living there get a chance to vote. Instead, voters in a small district expressly created for the purpose on the Venezuelan side of the border were asked to cast their vote, which will have only symbolic value. Neil Villamizar, an admiral loyal to President Maduro, won the unusual vote and will now be declared "governor of Essequibo" by the Venezuelan government even though he has no power or control over the territory, which remains in Guyanese hands. The president of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, has denounced the move as a "scandalous, false, propagandistic, opportunistic" and has said he will "do everything to ensure our territorial integrity and sovereignty is kept intact".
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Politics
- 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 Arabiya
6 days ago
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Venezuela's Maduro wins landslide in election boycotted by opposition
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's party on Sunday swept the board in parliamentary and regional elections that were boycotted by the opposition in protest over his disputed re-election last year. The United Socialist Party of Venezuela won 23 out of 24 state governor positions and scored 82.68 percent of the votes cast for lists of National Assembly members, the electoral council (CNE) said. The constituency-level results of the parliamentary vote had yet to be tallied. The main opposition group, led by popular figurehead Maria Corina Machado, had urged voters to stay away to avoid legitimizing what she described as a 'farce' election. AFP journalists who visited polling stations in several cities said turnout was much lower compared to the July 2024 presidential election. The CNE put voter turnout at a little over 42 percent of Venezuela's 21 million eligible voters. The run-up to the vote was marked by mass arrests and a new crackdown on dissent. Over 70 people were arrested on suspicion of planning to 'sabotage' the election. Among those arrested was leading opposition member Juan Pablo Guanipa, held on charges of heading the 'terrorist network' behind the alleged plot. Venezuela's authoritarian leftist government frequently alleges foreign-backed, opposition-led initiatives to topple Maduro, who took over on the death of his mentor, socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez in 2013. On Sunday, 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. 'Farce' The vote was for 285 members of the National Assembly and 24 governors -- including for the first time in Essequibo, an oil-rich region controlled by neighboring Guyana but claimed by Caracas. But many Venezuelans said they lost faith in the electoral process after last July's presidential vote. Electoral authorities quickly declared Maduro the winner of a third six-year term in that election, without releasing detailed results. The opposition published its own tally from individual polling stations, showing a convincing win for its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. The crackdown on post-election protests left 28 dead, hundreds behind bars, and cemented Venezuela's pariah status on the world stage. On Sunday before the results were announced, Maduro shrugged off the opposition boycott. 'When the opponent withdraws from the field, we advance and occupy the terrain,' he said matter-of-factly. Machado published several pictures of deserted polling stations on social media. She said the opposition had shown the election up as a 'grand farce' and called on the armed forces to 'act' against Maduro -- her latest call for them to mutiny. The military has ignored previous such entreaties from Machado. Writing on X, Gonzalez Urrutia, who went into exile in Spain late last year, said the boycott was a 'silent but resounding declaration that the desire for change, dignity and a future remains intact.' 'I'm not going to vote because I voted (in the presidential election) and they stole the elections. So it's really a farce,' said Candelaria Rojas Sierra, a 78-year-old retired civil servant in San Cristobal, on her way to mass to 'pray for Venezuela.' Samadhi Romero, a 32-year-old university student, however defended the election as an 'important process of civic participation.' She voted for Maduro's son, 35-year-old MP Nicolas Maduro Guerra, who was seeking re-election in Caracas. A small opposition faction led by two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles refused to be part of the boycott, arguing that previous voter stayaways had merely allowed Maduro to expand his grip on power. Capriles won a parliament seat in Sunday's vote. Vote in disputed region The election comes as the country's economy -- once the envy of Latin America, now in tatters after years of mismanagement and sanctions -- faces even further turmoil. US President Donald Trump has revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to continue pumping Venezuelan crude, potentially depriving Maduro's administration of its last lifeline. Washington has also revoked deportation protection from 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in the United States and expelled hundreds of others to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Venezuela's elections for the National Assembly and for state governor of Essequibo sent alarm bells clanging internationally. Guyana has administered the region for decades but Caracas has threatened to partially annex it -- a threat that Maduro repeated on Sunday.
