Caracas, May 26 (AP) Venezuelans still reeling from the outcome of last year's presidential election did not respond Sunday to government calls to get out and vote for lawmakers, governors and other officials. That left voting centres practically empty at times and put officials on the defensive.
The election, which the political opposition urged people to boycott, was the first to allow broad voter participation since the presidential contest that President Nicolas Maduro claimed to have won last year despite credible evidence to the contrary. It took place two days after the government detained dozens of people, including a prominent opposition leader, and linked them to an alleged plot to hinder the vote.
Members of the military throughout the day outnumbered voters at many polling centres in the capital, Caracas, where no lines formed outside in stark contrast with the enthusiasm of the July presidential election, when some people lined up for hours. But senior government officials insisted polling centres saw such overwhelming participation on Sunday that they had to remain open past the scheduled 12 hours of operation.
Electoral authorities said 42.66 per cent of registered voters cast ballots across the country. Some 21.4 million people were registered, meaning the National Electoral Council claimed that about 9.12 million voters participated.
Voter participation, in the eyes of the opposition, legitimises Maduro's claim to power and his government's repressive apparatus, which after the July presidential election detained more than 2,000 people including protesters, poll workers, political activists and minors, to quash dissent.
“I'm not going to vote,” truck driver Carlos Leon, 41, said standing near a desolate polling station in downtown Caracas. “I don't believe in the (electoral authority). I don't think they'll respect the vote. Nobody forgets what happened in the presidential elections. It's sad, but it's true.”
A nationwide poll conducted between April 29 and May 4 by the Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed that only 15.9 per cent of voters expressed a high probability of voting Sunday. Of those, 74.2 per cent said they would vote for the candidates of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela and its allies, while 13.8 per cent said they would vote for contenders associated with two opposition leaders who are not boycotting the elections.
“Today, we witnessed an event that attempted to disguise itself as an election, but failed to deceive the country or the world,” Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognised by the US and several other countries as the winner of the July presidential election, posted on X.
“What the world saw today was an act of civic courage. A silent but powerful declaration that the desire for change, dignity, and a future remains intact,” he added.
Opposition leaders chose Gonzalez, a retired diplomat, as the faction's presidential candidate because the government banned primary winner Maria Corina Machado from running for office. Gonzalez has been in exile since September to avoid arrest and, for the same reason, Machado has not been seen in public since January.
Machado's close ally, Juan Pablo Guanipa, was among 70 people detained Friday for alleged anti-government activities. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello linked Guanipa to an alleged “terrorist group” plotting to disturb Sunday's vote.
Guanipa's brother, Tomas, rejected the accusation and said the arrest was punishment for “thinking differently” from the government.
All-controlling ruling party
The ruling party-loyal National Electoral Council oversaw Sunday's election for state legislators, 285 members of the unicameral National Assembly and all 24 governors, including the newly created governorship purportedly established to administer Essequibo, a region long under dispute between Venezuela and neighbouring Guyana.
Among the members of the opposition who were on Sunday's ballot were twice-failed presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who won a seat in the National Assembly, and former lawmaker Juan Requesens, who lost his bid for governor. Requesens spent years in prison after authorities accused him of participating in a failed drone attack against Maduro.
The electoral body reported that the ruling party won 23 of the 24 gubernatorial races. Maduro's party also kept control of the National Assembly.
Maduro after voting said the electronic polling process is “very fast and very easy,” seemingly justifying the lack of lines at polling centres. His ruling-party ally, Gov. Freddy Bernal, explained the apparent low turnout similarly.
“We won't see long lines because the process is very fast,” Bernal, who was reelected governor of the state of Tachira, told state television.
Maduro also criticised opposition factions who asked people not to vote.
“What did they win? They lost everything,” Maduro said three times regarding previous opposition boycotts. “They -- the ones running that campaign -- are nothing, and Venezuela continues its course.”
Centralised government
The ruling party controls 19 governorships and more than 90 per cent of the National Assembly seats.
But in Maduro's Venezuela, regional elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, have limited impact on people's lives because his highly centralised government controls practically everything from Caracas. The government also represses the opposition by, for instance, disqualifying a candidate after the election or appointing a ruling-party loyalist to oversee the elected offices held by opponents, rendering them powerless.
Further, after the opposition won control of the National Assembly in 2015, Maduro created an election for members of a Constituent Assembly in 2017. That body, controlled by the ruling party, decreed itself superior to all other branches of government until it ceased to exist in 2020.
On Sunday, state television showed daylight footage of voters gathered at some polling centres outside Caracas, including from Indigenous communities where people travelled by boat and defied heavy rains to vote.
In a working-class neighbourhood in the capital, the National Guard placed three armoured personnel carriers, but by midday, the nearest voting centre had no visible activity and soldiers were looking at their cellphones while they sheltered from the sun.
Meanwhile, voters at a polling place in downtown Caracas said they cast ballots out of fear of losing their government jobs or food and other state-controlled benefits. And in an opposition stronghold, some ignored the boycott calls believing that voting is their civic duty, while others saw the election as a chance to keep their local government under opposition control.
“I'm defending my municipality,” said Edith, the owner of a bankrupt family business who declined to give her last name out of fear of government reprisals. “I'm still angry with what happened in July, but I have to defend it.” (AP) KRS
KRS