MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro consolidates his power with victory in the municipal elections

In a day with little participation, the ruling party won the majority of the 2,459 seats in dispute in 335 municipalities in the capital and the 23 states of the country

President Nicolás Maduro consolidated his power even more by sweeping the elections to elect the municipal councils before an opposition that mostly decided to boycott the process since they consider that there are no conditions to guarantee a transparent election.

In a day with little participation, the ruling party won the majority of the 2,459 seats in dispute in 335 municipalities in the capital and the 23 states of the country, announced the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Tibisay Lucena.

With 92.30% of the votes counted nationally, the alliance of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) totals 142 of the 156 adjudicated lists; other parties and different coalitions have 14, while of the 467 nominative seats, 449 are for the PSUV, Lucena said, who authorized the municipal councils of the country to award and issue full results of the remaining charges in dispute.

Lucena, without giving details, indicated that the participation in the elections was barely 27.4%.

Overwhelmed by the worst economic crisis in their history and the doubts of many about the neatness of their electoral system, Maduro's adversaries did not have an incentive to go to the polls to vote.

Historically, in the municipal elections in Venezuela fewer voters participate in comparison to the elections to elect the President, the congressmen and governors, but the fact that the electoral authorities have declared illegal the participation of the big opposition parties, at the same time that the main opposition figures are imprisoned or exiled for fear of being victims of judicial actions cataloged as “arbitrary” by their local and foreign critics, it was expected that the participation was very inferior to 50%.

In the municipal elections of 2013, in which mayors and councilors were elected, abstention stood at 41%.