Elections in Venezuela: ruling socialists won the majority

The ruling Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won the election again by winning a significant majority in the National Assembly in Sunday’s elections with almost 83 percent of the vote, according to the election commission, after the elections were boycotted by some opposition leaders in the midst of deep divisions among parties against President Nicolas Madur. Some of the main opposition leaders in the country invited voters to the boycott of elections in protest against official results of the Presidential elections from July 2024, which the opposition claims to have won, while authorities claim to have won Maduro. Sunday’s parliamentary elections have retained the government control of the Office of the State Attorney and the Supreme Court, whose members are elected by MPs.

The Commission did not give the total number of seats won by each party, but cited a list of 40 MPs from different parties who won the seats.

The turnout for the selection of 24 governors and 285 MPs was 42.6 percent of 21 million voters with voting rights, said the President of the National Election Council (CNE) Carlos Quintero, similar to the 2021 elections.

Opposition candidates conquered only one governor, in the state of Cojedes, west of the capital of Caracas, unlike four who conquered opposition parties in 2021.

Opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado and Edmund Gonzalez called on supporters not to go out on Sunday vote in protest against the official version of the 2024 election results, while the second opposition faction, led by double presidential candidate Henrique Capriles and Governor of the Federal State of Zulija, invited the people to be excluded from every government.

The international community, including the United States, does not give legitimacy to the results of the 2024 presidential elections.

The authorities have not yet shared the detailed results of this vote, blaming the cyber attack, while the opposition has released the results at the level of the ballot boxes showing the victory of her candidate Gonzalez.

Gonzalez fled to Spain in September, while Machado hid in Venezuela.

The US has increased the sanctions of Venezuela since the 2024 election, and Trump’s administration has given the American oil Diva Chevron Deadline until May 27 to suspend its business in that country.

Maduro, in power since 2013, has rejected the sanctions of the US and others, calling them illegitimate and accusing the « economic war ».