Venezuela holds elections marked by low turnout and opposition repression | International

Venezuela’s legislative and gubernatorial elections were held this Sunday amid low voter turnout, following a government crackdown against opposition leaders and civil activists that led to 70 imprisonment in 48 hours. The Chavista-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE), which declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the presidential election in July amid accusations and widespread evidence of fraud, awarded the ruling party the victory in these latest elections with 82.6% of the vote and victory in 23 of the 24 governor’s seats, with more than 90% of the votes counted.

Turnout was particularly low given the call for a boycott by the majority of the opposition, coming in at just 42.6% according to the authorities. In a statement, Maduro underscored Chavismo’s staying power: “Today we have proven the power of Chavismo,” he said. “Our people have managed to resist.”

The various opposition factions obtained around 14% collectively; among these are the Democratic Alliance, led by Timoteo Zambrano and the so-called “scorpions,” who have made a deal with Chavismo in recent years (6.25%); Union and Change, led by Henrique Capriles (5.18%), and Neighborhood Force, which supported the latter (2.57%).

Adding to the call for abstention by a majority of the opposition, led by María Corina Machado, is the fact that the economic crisis and anger at the administration of Nicolás Maduro have kept almost everyone estranged from politics. The disaffection grew from discontent fueled by the presidential elections of July 28, when President Maduro claimed victory without providing proof of the result. The existence of fraud and lack of democratic safeguards were confirmed by several independent electoral observation missions, such as the Carter Center. These delegations did not participate in the Sunday elections.

“We are deeply proud of this day,” said CNE chief Elvis Amoroso just before midnight. “The Venezuelan people have expressed their opinion. They saw the process unfold normally and peacefully in our country. Venezuela’s peace will be an example for the world,” he insisted. According to an extensive analysis, the ruling party had a deliberate interest in keeping the elections low-key in order to mobilize its own followers and have no opposition to speak of, as was the case in the 2020 legislative elections.

Jorge Rodríguez, current president of the National Assembly and one of the key leaders of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said with a broad smile that the remarkable thing about these elections was that, by defeating “fascism,” it gave “the definitive seal of peace in Venezuela,” predicting that the country was moving toward “a new political reality.”

Later that evening, he expanded on the rhetoric of victory. “Today, all of us, in unison, as though with millions of hands clasped together, have written a glorious page in the history of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he stated before insisting: “Peace be with us, peace be with you. Venezuela is heading toward a future of prosperity.”

At the same time, the notoriously low turnout is being claimed as a victory by Machado, who had been urging the population not to vote in an election she considered fraudulent, and to keep demanding to see the voting records of the last presidential election, which the ruling party has yet to provide.

“When it’s yes, it’s yes. When it’s no, it’s no,” Machado, who is currently in hiding, posted on her X account, alluding to the massive turnout at the polling stations at the last presidential elections on July 28, where there was a widespread hope for peaceful political change.

After the polls closed, she released an estimate of the abstention rate. “Today, Venezuelans once again defeated this criminal regime,” she said in a video posted on her social media. “More than 85% of Venezuelans disobeyed this regime and said no. The [authorities] believed that by using threats they could subdue the people, but it only provoked more anger. Even public employees also said no.”

Machado, along with thousands of other internet users and opposition activists who support her, spent the entire afternoon spreading messages, videos, and photographs of empty, or nearly empty, polling stations across the country.

Meanwhile, the official news and propaganda apparatus failed to acknowledge the low turnout: television channels’ shots were all close-up, with no panoramic images. State-run television and radio stations focused on repeating institutional messages, and government spokespersons, in opinion programs, congratulated themselves on the civic response of the population.

When he cast his own vote, Maduro emphasized “the strength of Venezuelan democracy” and reiterated that “no country in the world has organized as many successful popular elections as Venezuela during the years of the Bolivarian Revolution.”

Maduro also took the opportunity to announce that the consultation process with various social and political sectors to carry out the constitutional reform his administration is pursuing — which presumably seeks to consolidate communal organizational and electoral models — has been postponed until 2026. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López voiced the usual rhetoric about the country’s external enemies. “Venezuela is victorious with its democracy and in permanent rejection of sanctions,” he stated.

In the afternoon, following a tradition of recent years, the ruling party initiated a “last-push operation,” redoubling its efforts to mobilize more voters in urban neighborhoods and rural hamlets. Following this move, turnout improved slightly in some regions just as polling stations were closing.

In the late afternoon, as has been the case in so many other elections held across the country during the Chavista years, the CNE decreed a one-hour extension of the closing time for polling stations, due “to the fact that there are many participants, many voters, at the polling stations.”

The minority opposition groups that participated in these elections — the Un Nuevo Tiempo party and the Unity and Change movement, led by Henrique Capriles and Manuel Rosales — were awaiting the results with rather modest electoral goals and amid widespread criticism.

The scale of the abstention could prove a significant political liability for the future aspirations of some. The opposition groups that participated insist that the so-called “victory” proclaimed by Machado has no practical effect, because it will be a flash in the pan, and that it is a mistake to abandon the right to vote at such a critical moment. “We have different opinions; I am one of those who believes that to vindicate what this people holds in their hearts, we must express it,” Capriles said ahead of the vote, in support of participating in the election.

Meanwhile, regarding the new governorship of Guyana Essequibo, the United States administration warned Caracas that it rejects “all attempts by Nicolás Maduro and his illegitimate regime to undermine the territorial integrity of Guyana, including this latest electoral farce in the Essequibo region.” The incorporation of Guyana Essequibo, a territory controlled by Guyana, as a federal entity in this referendum has been presented as an act of sovereignty by the Chavista regime.

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