Faces of the Venezuelan opposition. Photo: Diálogo Político.
By Misión Verdad – Nov 18, 2022
The regional and municipal elections of 2021 in Venezuela, which consolidated the predominance of Chavismo in the country, took place almost a year ago. The opposition, which lost in key states such as Táchira, bordering Colombia, won three governorships and 119 mayoralties out of 335 (35%).
The results of the mayoral elections showed the emergence of new sectors of the three opposition factions existing in the country. These are the Alianza Democrática, headed by leaders such as Timoteo Zambrano, Luis Parra and José Brito, and Fuerza Vecinal headed by David Uzcátegui, Gustavo Duque and Elías Sayegh (dissidents from parties like Voluntad Popular and Primero Justicia).
There is also the Unitary Platform, which participates in the dialogue with the constitutional government of Venezuela headed by President Nicolás Maduro. It includes the parties Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), Acción Democrática (AD), Primero Justicia (PJ), Voluntad Popular (VP), La Causa R, and Bandera Roja (BR).
These sectors, mostly right-wing, returned to the electoral route after years of electoral boycotts, coup attempts, and calls for abstention, in addition to asking the powers of the Euro-Atlantic axis for illegal sanctions and blockades against Venezuela. The elections, in which 42.26% of the electorate participated, were observed by an Electoral Observation Mission of the European Union (EU-EOM), the Carter Center, and a panel of experts from the United Nations (UN), as well as experts from all over the world, amounting to more than 300 observers.
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A new political map
The Simón Bolívar Great Patriotic Pole, led by PSUV, got 40.22% of the votes and won the governorships of Amazonas, Anzoátegui, Apure, Aragua, Bolívar, Carabobo, Delta Amacuro, Falcón, Guárico, Lara, La Guaira, Mérida, Miranda, Monagas, Portuguesa, Sucre, Táchira, Trujillo, and Yaracuy. It also won the mayoralty of the capital city of Caracas. Thus, 86.95% of the states and 63.28% of the municipalities were won by the Chavista coalition.
The political configuration of 77 of the 335 mayoralties (23%) changed, either because their new mayors dislodged Chavismo, or because they passed into Chavista hands after a right-wing administration since 2017.
The opposition won in three states: Nueva Esparta, Zulia, and Cojedes, of which the latter two were previously governed by Chavismo, and in January 2022 the opposition won Barinas. However, these victories were accompanied by the anti-Chavista defeat in three states where the opposition alliance was in control: Anzoátegui, Mérida, and Táchira.
Anti-Chavismo governs in the border state of Zulia with Manuel Rosales as governor, in addition to 15 mayoralties of the state, including the capital Maracaibo, where Primero Justicia leader Rafael Ramírez Colina is the mayor. Additionally, they won a notable number of mayorships in Mérida (14), Táchira (13), Falcón (10), Barinas (7), and Nueva Esparta (6), but in none of these states did the opposition manage to win the capital cities. In Cojedes, where the governorship was won by the Acción Democrática’s Antonio Galíndez, Alexander Mireles won in San Carlos, the capital city, and five more municipalities went to the opposition.
The Unitary Platform (with the symbol of the extinct Democratic Unity Roundtable) got 25.23% of the votes, Alianza Democrática got 14.41%, and Fuerza Vecinal 5.26%.
Dilutions and reconstructions
In the current political map of Venezuela, the silencing and dilution of Juan Guaidó, who proclaimed himself as “interim president” of Venezuela with the support of the United States and dozens of its satellite countries, has been significant. Apart from not participating in the elections, his links with the regional and municipal authorities elected in 2021 are almost nil.
In spite of this, the Unitary Platform and Guaidó have agreed to resume negotiations between the government and the opposition in Mexico, which have been suspended since the kidnapping of the special diplomatic envoy Alex Saab by the United States. The agreements of that dialogue had determined the path for the November 21 elections.
Regarding the dialogue, Manuel Rosales, governor of Zulia, proposed in July that the Venezuelan government and the Unitary Platform should come to an agreement on using the resources frozen abroad. According to him, some $7 billion may be available and can be destined to social programs.
Durante el intercambio con el gobernador Manuel Rosales, ampliamos sobre los planes de recuperación de la petroquímica y otros sectores de interés para el pueblo zuliano y el país. ¡El impulso de la Patria es entre todas y todos! pic.twitter.com/RcfUjqNH36
— Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) November 17, 2022
The case of a mayor elected by the opposition who now receives support from the PSUV is also interesting. This is Emilio Velásquez, mayor of Gómez municipality in Nueva Esparta, who ended up disassociating himself from the Fuerza Vecinal party, although he claims that he never registered in said party. “Since I arrived and was sworn in as mayor of the municipality of Gómez, I received support from the PSUV, from the ruling party,” he said.
This is how the map of anti-Chavismo looks like one year after the November 21 elections, elections that were carried out within the framework of the current Constitution and in which the three opposition factions participated, in one way or another, after refusing to participate in the legislative elections of December 2020 and calling them “a fraud.”
On the other hand, Chavismo continues to be the alternative that has offered answers to the country in the midst of mistakes, nuances, and a brutal siege and seizure of the nation’s assets. The strategy of the PSUV is to continue summoning, mobilizing and rebuilding the political framework from its base in the face of an anti-Chavismo that is without faces, messages or proposals, but that is taking shape as its primary elections are coming up.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/AF
Misión Verdad
Misión Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution
