According to the Associated Press, a chastened Maduro blamed the loss on “the economic war” waged by the private sector but also told his supporters “to recognize in peace these results and reevaluate many political aspects of the revolution”.
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The country’s ruling Socialist party, now helmed by late President Hugo Chavez’s hand-picked successor, President Nicolas Maduro, suffered a disastrous defeat in legislative elections.
The opposition coalition won at least 99 seats in the incoming 167-seat legislature, electoral authorities announced after midnight Sunday, setting off a cacophony of auto honks and fireworks in the capital’s wealthier eastern neighborhoods.
The new National Assembly doesn’t take power until early January.
“If Maduro insists on policies that the majority of the people don’t want, he could instead face a recall referendum”, Malaver said.
The result marked the opposition’s first major electoral victory since Chavez was elected president 17 years to the date.
Mr Lopez, from behind bars, has turned into an emblem for the opposition. One opposition leader was gunned down at a rally in November, and another received a 14-year jail sentence for allegedly inciting violence, a conviction that’s drawn criticism from worldwide human rights groups like Human Rights Watch. “Leopoldo, your people freed you”.
“It’s a great opportunity for us, this protest vote”, prominent opposition leader Henrique Capriles said following a win attributed largely to voters punishing the Socialists for Venezuela’s deep economic and social crisis. He added that he always told everyone that this was the way – humility, serenity and maturity.
The socialists lost even in Chavez’s home state of Barinas, where his brother Adan is governor and several family members hold high office. The country called for change, and the change starts today.
But Venezuelans voted for change Sunday, offering the best hope for a turnaround in 16 years.
Another ally, Bolivia’s Leftist president Evo Morales, cast the Venezuelan vote as part of “imperial” plotting.
“Create and recreate things of the revolution”, said Maduro.
“We have been divided for years and the country has gained nothing from this mistake in its history”, he said.
The Democratic Unity opposition alliance declared Monday that it won the minimum number of seats needed to initiate a process to remove Maduro.
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The opposition’s victory will allow it to control government spending, grant amnesty to political prisoners, investigate corruption and withhold permission for the president to travel overseas.
