Chavismo strengthens its power, but loses credibility

Chavismo won without surprise the parliamentary elections held this Sunday in Venezuela, marked by high abstention and the call for boycott made by the opposition sector that supports the leader Juan Guaidó, and consolidated its power, although it also lost credibility, both in front of the international community and among the country's left with which it once formed an alliance.

The National Electoral Council (CNE), an entity that Venezuelan opponents accuse of alleged partiality with the government of Nicolas Maduro, announced after 01:30 local time this Monday (05:30 GMT) that Chavismo obtained 67.6% of the votes cast, some 3,558,320.

The Democratic Alternative coalition, which groups opposition parties that went to the elections after the Supreme Court of Justice appointed them new boards of directors, won 944,665 votes, 17.95% of those counted so far.

This is the first official bulletin, issued after 82.35% of the ballots were counted, while the official participation figure was 31%.

"We have had a tremendous electoral victory," said President Nicolas Maduro after the first report, although the exact number of seats won by the Great Patriotic Pole, the party platform behind it, is not yet known.
 

Elections questioned  

But as it gains more power, Chavismo loses more internal and external legitimacy, something that has been happening since 2017 when the National Constituent Assembly was installed in the Caribbean country, an entity that is not recognized by the opposition and part of the international community.

The Colombian government reiterated that it will not recognize the results of the elections, which it considers "fraudulent" and promoted by an "illegitimate regime".

Declarations are expected from the United States and the European Union in the same vein.

On Election Day, Guaidó reiterated that he does not recognize the elections, which he described as fraudulent, and warned that the political differences between Chavism and the opposition will deepen after the elections.

"The crisis, unfortunately, will only deepen", expressed the opponent in a video broadcast on his Twitter account.

Guaidó, a deputy from the coastal state of La Guaira, close to Caracas, proclaimed an interim government at the end of January 2019, based on his interpretation of several articles of the Constitution and protected in his position as head of the Parliament, the only body that controls the opposition.

Then, he was immediately recognized by the United States and several countries in the region, a support that weeks later rose to fifty.

But, after the boycott he called for in Sunday's parliamentary elections, Guaidó will lose his status as head of the Legislative Branch as of January 5, when the elected deputies are installed that day.

Guaidó says he will continue as president 

In the same message, Guaidó said that he will adhere to the principle of constitutional continuity to maintain his functions as interim president.

"We are not going to stop, we will remain firm and in office to fulfill our constitutional mandate (...), the legitimate National Assembly (NA, Parliament), I, as the president in charge, will continue here together, with you," he indicated. 

But the two times candidate to the Presidency of Venezuela, Henrique Capriles, asked to rethink the opposition strategy "and to open roads hand in hand with all sectors" of the country.

The opponent, who has criticized in other opportunities the decisions of the current opposition leader and head of the Parliament, Juan Guaidó, pointed out that "the response of the democratic sectors" to the elections "cannot be the monitoring of a failure that", he manifested, "we knew would happen".

Neither can they be "called to a mobilization without tangible solutions," he added, while insisting that the elections held this Sunday were "a process for the interests of the PSUV (the main Chavista organization)," since there was "little or no participation.

Opposition reports more than 80% abstention

The opposition led by Guaidó maintained that abstention exceeded 80% and celebrated the fact that citizens left the centers "empty".

However, the opposition report arrived shortly after 6pm (22:00 GMT), the time stipulated for the closing of the polling stations, and even by that time not all the schools were closed.

The NEC had reported almost in parallel that it extended for one hour, or as long as necessary, the operations of the centers that registered lines.

Specifically, the closing time of all centers was never known.

Likewise, EFE was able to verify that after 5:00 p.m. local time (21:00 GMT), in six centers located in the capital municipalities of Libertador, Chacao and Sucre, there were no voters in lines.

In spite of this, Chavismo has gained a majority in Parliament and will begin to exercise its power on January 5, when the new House leadership is to be installed.

As a comparison, in the legislative elections of 2015, which the opposition won decisively, the CNE reported a participation of 74.25 %.

Maduro sees himself ratified in his position after the Chavista triumph in the legislative elections

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, said on Monday that his position has been ratified and "reestablished" after the resounding victory of Chavism in the legislative elections in which the opposition represented by opposition leader Juan Guaidó did not participate.

"Here we are ratified and re-narrated by the love, the vote and the passion of a people," Maduro said after celebrating the "great victory" of Chavism and referring to the statement he made days ago when he indicated that he would leave the presidency if the opposition won the majority in Parliament.

In declarations transmitted by the state channel VTV, the president indicated that he "would not make that promise again" because, he said, he received many messages from supporters that expressed "sadness".

Maduro also emphasized that the result obtained by Chavism is a "great victory, without a doubt, for democracy" after "a good election day".

The figures of Chavism, to the Parliament

The electoral results also establish that figures of the government, such as Diosdado Cabello, the first lady Cilia Flores, María León, the television presenter Mario Silva and the former president of the Parliament Jesús Soto achieved a position in the Chamber.

With this panorama, Chavismo retakes control of the Legislative Power, the body that served the opposition to launch its offensive against the Administration of Nicolás Maduro, a 58 year old bus driver who has governed the South American nation since 2013.

"We have many reasons to be happy," Cabello declared during a meeting of the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) celebrating the results.

The triumph, at the same time, adds the Parliament to the power maintained by Chavism in Venezuela: it controls 19 of the 23 Governorships, commands 305 of the 335 Mayors, has 227 of the 251 Deputies of the regional Legislative Assemblies.

Furthermore, almost 9 out of 10 councilmen, who deliberate in the municipal parliaments, respond to the directives of Chavism.