Venezuela chooses governors and parliamentarians on Sunday in an election that points to an overwhelming victory of Chavismo, in the face of the call to abstention by the majority opposition, ten months from the questioned reelection of Nicolás Maduro.
Just over 21 million voters are summoned to the polls to elect 285 deputies to the National Assembly and 24 governors, including for the first time the representation of a newly created state to the territory of Essiquibo, disputed with Guyana. Research company Delphos designed a 16%stake, composed mostly by militants chavists.
The process began at 6am (7am in Brasilia) and, in the first hour, most voting centers in downtown Caracas were empty, with only a handful of voters in line. The image contrasts with the high participation recorded in the 28 July presidential elections. The ballot box will be open until 6 pm (7 pm in Brasilia), although the centers should remain operating as long as voters are in line.
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Elections in Venezuela
The election occurs after a wave of more than 70 arrests, which included leader Juan Pablo Guanipa, close to the opposition leader María Corina Machado. All were accused of belonging to a “terrorism network” to sabotage Sunday’s elections, which Machado classified as a “scam” and asked for boycott.
Complaints of alleged conspiracy plans of opposition with support from the United States are frequent. The government has restricted the terrestrial border passages and suspended the air connection with Colombia, which, according to Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, was used by alleged “mercenaries” to attack the electoral process. More than 400,000 security forces agents were mobilized for the election.
“The ultra -right who wants to threaten the people, to keep their plans,” Maduro said on Saturday in an official act. “These people are safe from their destination and will demonstrate it” in Sunday’s election.
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Empty centers
Chavismo has 253 of the 277 seats in the National Assembly, after the opposition withdrew from the 2020 legislative elections. It also controls 19 of the 23 governances today. María Corina summoned voters to leave “all empty centers” as part of their protest against the outcome of the presidential, which she claims to have been framed.
The National Electoral Council (CNE), accused of serving the president, proclaimed mature winner without disclosing the detailed investigation of the votes, as required by law. The authority alleged an attack on the system, which now says it was armored. Protests after Maduro’s proclamation resulted in 28 deaths and more than 2,400 arrests.
A small dissent of the opposition disregarded María Corina’s call and participates in this Sunday’s elections. She is led by the twice presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who seeks a chair in Parliament and defends the “vote as an act of resistance.”
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Disputa Pelo Essquibo
In the case of Essequibo, a governor and eight parliamentarians will be elected, who will initially have a symbolic mandate, as Guiana manages this rich region of 160,000 km². Guianense President Irfan Ali denounced the election as a “threat,” while the International Court of Justice (CIJ), who judges a case related to the dispute, asked Venezuela to refrain from holding these comics.
Just over 21,000 voters are summoned in centers located in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar (Southeast), outside the territory in dispute.
Guyana asked the CIJ to ratify the boundaries established in an arbitral report of 1899, but Venezuela appeals to the 1966 Geneva Agreement, before the UK Guyana independence, which nullified this decision and established the foundations for a negotiated solution.
