Election officials in Venezuela say the opposition has won control of the country’s legislature, delivering a stunning defeat to the ruling Socialist party.
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Early this morning, the national election board announced that the opposition coalition, known as the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD in Spanish), took home at least 99 seats in the 167-member National Assembly, with 22 seats still up for grabs. But it was rather different at government headquarters: President Maduro accepted the defeat – despite opposition claims the ruling party had tried to rig the polls. This comes after almost two decades of Socialist dominance under President Nicolas Maduro.
Never, in the last 20 years, had Venezuelan socialism suffered a loss.
However, Maduro also faces the challenge of maintaining the loyalty of different factions of the Chavismo movement, including the military, Venezuela’s traditional arbiter of political disputes.
The landslide victory by the opposition alliance, made up of centrist and conservative parties, was a huge blow to Maduro.
“The constitution and democracy have triumphed, we recognize and accept these results”, said President Maduro, according to TeleSur. Drier says one Venezuelan political pundit last night said “this is no longer a contest between a train and a bicycle, now there are two trains, and the Socialist party and the opposition might be insane enough now to crash into each other and smash up the whole country”.
But he did blame the victory on an “economic war” waged by business leaders and other opponents out to sabotage the economy and bring him down.
The pink tide unofficially began when late-President Hugo Chavez took office in 1999, calling himself a socialist. 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.
Voters punished the government for the deep economic crisis in Venezuela.
“I feel at peace with my conscience because everything we have done has been for the protection of the country”, Maduro said in the national address.
Underlining the unprecedented mood in Venezuela, videos online showed five prominent socialist politicians – including Chavez’s brother Adan – being booed at voting centres on Sunday, with crowds yelling “the government will fall!” or “thief!”
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The country has seen massive protests and violence in the streets for years, and opposition leaders have been imprisoned. In November Argentines voted for Mauricio Macri, who promised to undo policies from the populist regime of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
