“We have come with our morals and our ethics to recognize these adverse results, to accept them and to say to our Venezuela that the constitution and democracy have triumphed”, Maduro said. “We have lost a battle today but now is when the fight for socialism begins”, he said, according to The Independent. The South American country has one of the fastest annual inflation rates in the world, estimated between at least 80 percent to far more than 120 percent. Waiting patiently to vote in these nationwide Congressional elections is one thing they don’t mind queuing for. “Chavez’s people, let’s vote for a ideal victory”, he exhorted. In a plaza on the wealthy eastern section of Caracas, which was the epicenter of last year’s bloody anti-government protests, a small group of opponents sipped champagne and burned the red shirts that are known as the revolutionary attire.
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If that result is confirmed, it would not give the opposition power to overhaul the dysfunctional state-led economy but it would shatter the aura of invincibility around the “Chavista” movement named after popular former president Hugo Chavez.
“As soon as January comes, it’s amnesty for political prisoners, constitutional reform, a recall referendum”.
Voter turnout was a shocking 74%, levels normally seen in presidential voting, as Venezuelans punished Maduro’s government for a plunging currency and triple-digit inflation that almost collapsed the economy.
In the early hours of this Monday morning, Tibisay Lucena, the President of the CNE, congratulated the Venezuelan people on its impressive “demonstration of civility” before announcing that the Venezuelan opposition coalition, the Roundtable of Democratic Unity (MUD), had swept to victory in the Venezuelan legislative elections.
More than 163,000 policemen and troops had been deployed around the country ahead of Sunday’s vote, but many Venezuelans still fear postelection violence.
The opposition victory deals a serious blow to the socialist revolution started 17 years ago by the late Hugo Chavez, who until his death in 2013 had an almost-magical hold on the political aspirations of the country’slong-excluded masses. And some have already floated the idea that outgoing lawmakers will pass a law granting Maduro special decree powers to ride roughshod over the new congress, which won’t be sworn in until January.
The election results are seen as a major setback to the ruling party.
Underlining the depth of feeling, videos circulating online seemed to show five prominent socialist politicians – including Chavez’s brother Adan – being booed at voting centers on Sunday, with crowds yelling “the government will fall!” or “thief!”
His term as president runs until 2019, unless the opposition wins a big enough majority to force him out by constitutional means.
Invoking Chavez’s name at every turn, Maduro urged his supporters out on Sunday with tweets showing images of his former boss and mentor.
There was some evidence of that in Caracas, with pro-government posters and some supporters outside a polling station in Bellas Artes.
“Now everything will just get worse”. “And I can forget about getting assigned a house through the “housing mission”, said Ortega, referring to a current government program to grant social housing to the poor.
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After casting his ballot, Maduro said he “prayed to God the new Assembly would establish a good agenda for the benefit of those who elected them”, in a remarkable mellow tone from the fiery rhetoric used in the run-up to the elections.
