The participation of the weakened bloc and the results of these elections will be key for them to rethink their strategy for the presidential elections.
As a new starting point for the Nicolás Maduro regime, the regional elections that Venezuela will have this Sunday are seen. Getting the sanctions lifted would be one of the main objectives it hopes to achieve. The opposition returns to the polls after four years and after fifteen, a European Union (EU) mission will oversee the vote.
With the results of these elections, the fractured and weakened Venezuelan opposition You will be able to rethink your strategy for the next presidential elections that would take place in 2024 or earlier, in the case of reaching an agreement.
The opposition bloc stopped participating in the 2018 elections, in which Maduro was re-elected, and in the 2020 elections, in which Chavismo regained Parliament, considering them “fraudulent.”
However, that absence has ended up weakening and dividing the bloc and the so-called “interim presidency” of the opposition leader Juan Guaidó – recognized by more than fifty countries – has “lost legitimacy” and it was “obsolete”, according to anonymous opposition sources.
Guaidó has not called for abstention, but he has said that he will not vote, which reflects the internal divisions on the eve of 2022 in which a recall referendum could be attempted against Maduro to end a term in the middle of its term.
Both blocks have asked the population to vote amid campaign closings who have left an unprecedented scene, Chavistas and opponents -both without leaders- asking for the vote and distributing their electoral propaganda against each other in various areas of Caracas, without problem.
The executive vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, assured in one of the acts that the elections will serve to give a “democratic lesson, so that the empires of the world learn to respect Venezuela.”
“They (the opposition) know that we are going to beat him up on November 21,” said Rodríguez, who insisted that they will maintain the legacy of the late President Hugo Chávez after the electoral contest.
The president of the National Assembly (AN), Jorge Rodríguez, participated in this same act, and stated that “it is impossible” for the victory to be taken away from them at the polls on Sunday.
More than 21 million Venezuelans, of the 30 million inhabitants that the country registers, are summoned to the polls in a process with 70,000 candidates to 23 governorates and 335 mayors, in addition to regional and municipal legislation in a country hit by the worst economic crisis in its history, collects AFP.
Attendance at the polls will be key for the opposition to achieve a good result that allows it to obtain several key governorships and mayors after almost five years calling for abstention.
In Caracas, a great bastion of Chavismo for the last 22 years and one of the greatest challenges for the opposition, the opposition candidate, Tomás Guanipa, closed his campaign stating that the capital “shows a willingness to change” and is “bored” with the situation that the country lives.
“What I see in the street is outrage, the people want to regain their right to decide who is and who is not in power,” he said before the end of the campaign.
Nevertheless, For many analysts, the power of Chavismo is not at risk as it is expected to win the vast majority of positions. The change that the ruling party has shown would be related to seeking the withdrawal of current sanctions, “especially those that weigh on oil issues.”
Maduro argues that US-led sanctions are the cause of Venezuela’s many problems. The country has funds blocked abroad and wants to sell its oil without restrictions, as well as import gasoline, scarce due to the destruction of the industry, it collects EFE.
“It is not known if the elections will be fair, free, transparent and verifiable. Sanctions are Maduro’s main objective, ”says analyst Oswaldo Ramírez, director of the ORC Consultores firm.
Among the concessions made by the Chavista leader is the impulse he gave for the new directive of the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The electoral body is made up of five rectors, three related to Chavismo and two to the opposition. The director of the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory (OEV), Luis Lander, considers it a great advance and highlights the “effort” that the five have made to try to offer an institutional image.
Another concession is the presence of the opposition and the invitation of the observation missions of the EU, the Carter Center and the United Nations. Venezuela was reluctant for years to authorize this type of mission, always inviting organizations related to Chavismo.
The EU, which has deployed 34 observers, is scheduled to present its report next Tuesday. An electoral specialist declared that “there is no possibility of fraud” with the electronic voting system used in Venezuela, although there may be, as in previous processes, “coercion and persecution” in centers in a context of self-censorship in the media for fear of retaliation.
The head of the mission, the Portuguese MEP Isabel Santos, has rejected the criticism made by the number two of the ruling party, Diosdado Cabello, who has asked his supporters to distrust the EU observers, since – he assured – his work ” it is based on the discrediting ”of the process.
On several occasions he has stated that the EU delegation in Venezuela has “the written script about the democratic exercise that will take place in Venezuela. In this regard, Santos was surprised and denied that they have “a prepared report.”
Opposition candidates have denounced profiteering, use of public resources for Chavista campaigns and little access to the media. But Maduro, by contrast, has promised “a great victory for democracy.” (I)
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