A member of the Bolivarian National Police votes Sunday in Carcas, Venezuela. The regional and legislative elections in Venezuela, where governors, national assembly members and state legislators elected, were marked by the absence of long lines seen in previous years and the use of automated voting, which Chavistas and opposition groups described as “fast.” Photo By Miguel Gutierrez/EPA-EFE
Venezuela’s ruling party, led by President Nicolas Maduro, swept to victory in regional and parliamentary elections.
The elections Sunday came as multiple opposition groups called for Venezuelans to boycott the vote in protest to last July’s presidential election in which Maduro was declared the winner in a disputed contest over Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized by the United States and several other nations as the lawful winner and Venezuelan president.
Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela , or PSUV, took 23 of the 24 state gubernatorial races and an absolute majority of 285 seats in Parliament.
The opposition candidates won the governorship of one state, Cojedes, which is down from the four states in 2021 but won three national assembly seats under the UNT party.
According to Venezuela’s electoral council, which is dominated by Maduro loyalists, the PSUV won more than 82% of votes cast for Parliament.
It was called a “farce” election by the South American country’s opposition parties.
Meanwhile, Maduro hailed the election results as a “victory of peace and stability.”
Opposition party leader Maria Corina Machado claimed voter turnout was below 15% while the government-run CNE says turnout was at around 42%.
Earlier this month in a video message, Machado said “we voted on 28 July” but “on May 25, we won’t vote.”
“More than 85% of Venezuelans did not obey this regime and said ‘no’,” Machado said about the effort to keep Venezuelan voters home instead of casting a ballot.
On Monday, the Canadian government said Sunday’s elections in Venezuela were neither free nor fair as “repression, arbitrary detentions and silencing of opposition persist.”
“We call for an end to human rights abuses and the immediate release of all unjustly detained,” officials in the Canadian Global Affairs Department, which manages Canada’s diplomatic and consular relations, added.
