Venezuelans vote to elect lawmakers

Voters in Venezuela are casting their ballots on Sunday to elect lawmakers governors and other officials amid increased government repression and calls by the opposition to boycott the election according to an AP reportThis is the first election to allow broader voter participation since last yearrsquos presidential contest in which President Nicolaacutes Maduro claimed victory despite credible evidence suggesting the results were not fair The election comes just two days after the government arrested dozens of people including a prominent opposition leader accusing them of being involved in a plot to disrupt the vote the AP reportedAbout an hour after polls opened only a handful of voters were seen outside the countryrsquos largest voting center in the capital a sharp contrast to the large crowds present during the July 28 presidential election Police presence across Caracas was noticeably higher with patrol cars parked in quiet neighborhoods and their lights flashing as per an AP reportThe opposition believes that participating in the vote helps legitimize Madurorsquos grip on power and his governments repressive measures After the July presidential election authorities detained more than 2000 people including protesters election workers political activists and even minors in an effort to silence dissent Meanwhile the ruling party is already claiming sweeping victories nationwide as it has in past regional elections regardless of whether the opposition participated the news agency reportedAccording to AP a national poll conducted by the Venezuelabased research firm Delphos from April 29 to May 4 showed that only 159 percent of voters were highly likely to vote on Sunday Among them 742 percent said they planned to support candidates from the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela and its allies Only 138 percent expressed support for candidates aligned with two opposition leaders who have chosen not to boycott the electionsldquoThis is absolutely despicablerdquo said opposition figure Humberto Villalobos on Saturday criticizing the participation of some opposition members ldquoWe are facing the most brutal repression in recent years This election is a joke a parodyrdquo he added reported the APVillalobos was head of the elections division under opposition leader Maria Corina Machado In March 2024 he and five other government critics took refuge at a diplomatic compound in the capital to avoid arrest He spent over a year there and on Saturday spoke publicly for the first time since he and four others left the compound and arrived in the United States earlier this monthUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio who met with the group on Friday described their departure as an international rescue operation However Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello disagreed claiming it was the result of a negotiation with the governmentSundayrsquos election overseen by the progovernment National Electoral Council includes the selection of state legislators 285 members of the National Assembly and all 24 governors including a newly created governorship meant to oversee Essequibo a region long disputed between Venezuela and neighboring GuyanaIn Madurorsquos Venezuela however the outcome of the vote is unlikely to significantly impact daily life His highly centralized government controls nearly everything from Caracas The regime also weakens the opposition by disqualifying elected officials after the vote or by assigning loyalists to oversee oppositionheld offices effectively stripping them of powerAfter the opposition gained control of the National Assembly in 2015 Maduro responded by holding a new election in 2017 to form a Constituent Assembly which declared itself more powerful than any other government body That assembly remained active until it was dissolved in 2020With inputs from APatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params