Briefing

Chavismo Celebrated Its Map

The different "oppositions" won only three (or five?) states but did way better in small cities mayorships

Naky Soto
  • PSUV won 205 out of 322 mayorships, according to Pedro Calzadilla, president of the National Electoral Council. MUD won 59 mayorships, Alianza Democrática won 37 and other parties and alliances won 21. Calzadilla reported that, after receiving 99% of the results, PSUV won 18 out of 21 governorships, the MUD won two and the prêt-à-porter political party Fuerza Vecinal won one. Apure and Barinas haven’t been called yet. 
  • Jorge Rodríguez complained and demanded that Alianza Democrática and Fuerza Vecinal representatives be incorporated into the opposition’s negotiation delegation: “There’s a different picture for the opposition (…) They can’t disregard Alianza Democrática anymore, they’re part of the opposition,” he said. 
  • “The regime must yield, the opposition must yield. Allied countries must yield. Go to the slums, you’ll see malnourished people. In their name, we ask for a solution to the crisis,” said Zulia governor-elect Manuel Rosales, the candidate with the highest votes in the whole country. “The problem in Venezuela must be fixed by Venezuelans,” he said and added that the opposition is undergoing a crisis. Rosales called on people to end “fighting on social media,” and stepping out of their comfort zones. He demanded seriousness to return to a negotiation. The thing is that he isn’t included in Jorge Rodríguez’s concept of the opposition. 
  • Juan Guaidó talked about the need to achieve unity: “Today is a day for respecting the citizens (…) And leaders must reflect. The need for unity and articulation of all factions to face the regime is evident.” He thinks the results also reflect that there weren’t conditions and highlighted that the regime kidnapped political parties and financed people like Luis Parra and José Brito. “Venezuela has a dictatorship, with a regime that’s been accused of crimes against humanity, 94% in poverty, a regime that keeps trying to win some legitimacy. Maduro’s still illegitimate,” he said. Guaidó asked for reunification within the democratic alternative, assuming responsibilities and not blaming the other actors because that led to fractures. 
  • PSUV was defeated in Cojedes and in seven out of nine mayorships in the state. 
  • MUD candidate for Barinas, Freddy Superlano, claims he defeated PSUV candidate Argenis Chávez. In the state were Hugo Chávez was born, PSUV lost six out of 12 mayorships and there are still two municipalities where they haven’t called the winner. 
  • The opposition won 14 out of 23 mayorships in Merida but lost the state. 
  • The opposition won the Maracaibo mayorship: MUD’s Rafael Ramírez Colina defeated PSUV’s Willy Casanova, who was seeking reelection. PSUV also lost the adjacent San Francisco municipality. 
  • Andrés Schloeter “Chola”, MUD candidate to the Sucre municipality, invited to renew the ways of doing politics, said that unity was indispensable and asked not to abandon spaces. 
  • David Uzcátegui managed to distort the election in Miranda: the CNE said that 4.95% of votes in the state were null, four times higher than the rest of the country. Even though Fuerza Vecinal imposed their candidates without alliances, Uzcátegui wanted to teach lessons on the value of unity and speculated about the power of mass participation without understanding the reasons for discontent.
  • Voto Joven processed over 755 reports of irregularities during the election, including puntos rojos, use of public resources for mobilizing voters, propaganda activities carried out by members of voting stations, offers of retribution by parties for people who voted for them, irregularities during assisted voting, failure of voting machines and voter migration. 
  • There were 38 attacks against journalists and outlets during the regional elections. 
  • Foro Penal registered at least 13 arrests: two in Portuguesa, one in Barinas, two in Zulia, where one person was killed, four in Aragua and four in Nueva Esparta. Some arrests have yet to be confirmed in Lara. 
  • The U.S. assured the election wasn’t free and doesn’t reflect Venezuelans’ will: “Afraid of Venezuelans’ voices and votes, the regime distorted the process to determine the results of this election long before the votes were cast,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
  • Colombian president Iván Duque called this election a “chronicle of announced fraud.” He said it was “an election manipulated by a regime that controls everything. It has the control of the Judicial Branch and the Electoral Branch.” 
  • Hundreds of Venezuelans are part of the new migrant caravan that left from the Mexico-Guatemala border. One of the people in charge, said that around 20% of the 3,000-person caravan are Venezuelans and that they were victims of awful crimes in the Darien region in Panama. OAS commissioner for the Venezuelan migrant crisis David Smolansky said that our crisis is so large that “if you counted people who could vote abroad, it’s almost half of the total voters yesterday (…) the largest Venezuelan state is, sadly, out of the country.” 
  • According to AFP, the main socio-economic figures boil down to: 5% drop of the GDP, 2,700% inflation rate, 6.2 million dollars in reserves and 5.4 million migrants. 

Naky Soto

Naky gets called Naibet at home and at the bank. She coordinates training programs for an NGO. She collects moments and turns them into words. She has more stories than freckles.

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