Venezuela’s ruling party claims election win as opposition boycotts poll

Venezuela’s ruling party is celebrating what it has described as “an overwhelming victory” in regional and parliamentary elections, which were boycotted by the majority of opposition parties.

The electoral council (CNE), which is dominated by government loyalists, says candidates for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s (PSUV) – President Nicolás Maduro’s party – won the race for governor in 23 out of the country’s 24 states.

According to the CNE, the ruling coalition also won 82.68% of the votes cast for the National Assembly, Venezuela’s legislative body.

The main opposition parties called the elections a “farce”. Opposition leader, María Corina Machado, said turnout had been below 15%.

“More than 85% of Venezuelans did not obey this regime and said ‘no’,” Machado said about those who abstained.

Independent journalists who visited polling stations throughout the day said that they saw no queues and fewer people turning out than for the presidential election last July.

The CNE meanwhile put the turn-out at 42.6%.

The opposition has long questioned the independence of the CNE, which is led by Elvis Amoroso, a former legal counsel to President Maduro.

The CNE came in for widespread international criticism in last year when it declared Mr Maduro the winner of the presidential election without ever providing the detailed voting tallies to back up their claim.

Venezuela’s opposition, meanwhile, published voting tallies it had gathered with the help of official election observers which showed that its candidate, Edmundo González, was the overwhelming winner.

Credit: bbc.com

 

The post Venezuela’s ruling party claims election win as opposition boycotts poll appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.

Read Full Story