Venezuela's Municipal Elections: “Both Sides Lose”

Although the ruling PSUV party won the majority of mayoral races in the country's municipal elections, Boz from Bloggings by Boz says that Venezuela “remains divided and neither side has a clear majority.”

According to the results announced by The National Electoral Council (CNE), the ruling party won 196 municipalities, while the opposing MUD won 53.

The blog Venezuelan Politics and Human Rights kept a live blog of the elections on December 8, 2013. They explain that the opposition “won all of the expected symbolic capitals”, and add:

This result clearly gives [President] Maduro some breathing room. Compared to where he was two months ago, with a government in a tail spin, he now looks like he is in control, having gotten past a major hurdle. The opposition clearly did not get the big plebiscite win that it sought. But it is in reasonable shape with a good showing in popular vote despite all of the campaign inequities. They gained ground in number of mayors and control many important capitals. This will give them space to provide an alternative model of governance and maintain their public profile. Maduro has gained some breathing room but 2014 is guaranteed to be a difficult year.

1 comment

  • jnack

    The ruling PSUV of president Maduro won 60 percent of the mayoral elections, and won the popular vote by 6.5 percent over the right-wing opposition. Added to that are the votes for leftist political parties allied with President Maduro in the Great Patriotic Pole. It really wasn’t very close at all. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7716368-6080-11e3-b360-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2mzfuaqA1 These parties include the CPV and PPT, which get a significant though smaller, share of the vote.

    Yes, Venezuela is a politically divided country, but it’s not evenly divided. The evidence is the revolution still has the support of 60 percent of the people.

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