The local elections resulted in a landslide victory for the camp of President Maduro, whose legitimacy is not recognized by part of the international community, and the results of the 2018 elections, during which he was re-elected as president.
Maduro congratulated the United Socialist Party (the ruling party) for winning the posts of regional presidents in 20 states, out of 23 governorships (after counting 90.21 percent of the votes), and also won the mayor of Caracas, which is a blow to the opposition that participates for the first time since The 2017 poll after its boycott of the legislative and presidential elections.
The elections posed a special challenge to the regime and the opposition, between President Maduro’s attempt to lift the sanctions imposed on his country, and the opposition’s attempt to rearrange its ranks before the 2024 presidential elections.
The victory of Maduro’s camp would give a boost to the country’s ruling political system, in light of the internal crises it faces, as well as external challenges, especially the US sanctions imposed on Caracas.
It is believed that losing the positions of the four provincial governors that it won in 2017 will lose the opposition a strong base to start campaigning for the presidential elections scheduled for 2024.
reflections
In exclusive statements to “Sky News Arabia”, the researcher specializing in Latin American affairs from Morocco, Mohsen Monjid, analyzes the results of the elections in Venezuela.
He says, “The opposition in Caracas came out of these elections weaker than it was before they entered.”
The opposition in Venezuela did not get the results it aspired to, nor was it able to appear before the electorate as a coherent group after it failed to unify its candidate lists to compete with the ruling party.
The turnout in Sunday’s elections was 41.8 percent, and the number of voters reached 8.1 million, at a time when the opposition is threatening the occurrence of fraud.
The opposition won only three states (Isla Nueva, Sparta and Cojedes).
In this context, Monjid points out that “the votes rose after these benefits to warn of irregularities and the lack of equality of the opposition and the majority in fortunes since the beginning of the electoral campaign, whether through access to the media and pressure on voters or co-optation by the ruling party.”
He added: “It is expected that the observers of these elections from the European Union and the United Nations will present their report on Tuesday on the general conditions through which the elections passed.”
lift sanctions
For President Maduro, this victory constitutes “an additional opportunity to confirm his electoral legitimacy in the previous elections, and he will use it as a card to address the international community, especially the United States, in order to demand the lifting of sanctions and to provide the Venezuelans with an opportunity to ensure a decent life,” according to what the researcher specializing in Latin American affairs confirms. .
He explains that Maduro opened up to the opposition in these elections through the series of negotiations that took place in Mexico, knowing that these benefits do not revolve around his personal legitimacy as the country’s leader, but rather about positions of responsibility at the regional and municipal levels.
Commenting on the preliminary results of the elections, President Maduro said: “A wonderful victory came as a result of hard work.”
While opposition Henrique Capriles (a two-time former presidential candidate) had expressed his concern before the election results were announced about fraud, referring to the issue of polling stations closing at a late hour, he said in a tweet on Twitter.
Opposition divisions
The Latin American researcher points out that the Venezuelan president “will undoubtedly confirm his desire for dialogue and national unity with the opposition parties, but without making any concessions on his powers as president and leader of the party that won the elections, while for the opposition, these elections constitute an opportunity to unite its ranks.” In practice, it works to avoid divisions that weaken its collective strength, as it did not succeed in boycotting the 2020 legislative elections and did not succeed in the regional and municipal elections after participating in them.
At the same time, a researcher specializing in Latin American affairs talks about the decline in domestic support directed to Juan Guaido as a pivotal figure in the Venezuelan political scene, and even at the international level, the European Union no longer recognizes Guaido as President of the National Assembly since the end of his legislative term in accordance with the Venezuelan constitution.
This requires the opposition factions to coordinate on how and mechanisms to confront Maduro in a unified manner in preparation for the presidential elections to be organized in 2024. It is not expected that Maduro will relinquish power before this date.
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