Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino LĂłpez (second from left) at the launch of the security deployment for the May 25 elections. Photo: Fausto Torrealba/AVN.
Security deployment for the upcoming May 25 elections in Venezuela has been activated. Defense Minister VladĂmir Padrino LĂłpez led an event on Wednesday, May 21, for the launch of the deployment, dubbed Operation Republic, in preparation for the elections.
The event took place at the Los Proceres promenade in Caracas, where Defense Minister Padrino LĂłpez was accompanied by the vice president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Carlos Quintero, Attorney General Tarek William Saab, and other authorities.
The security forces expressed their commitment to guarantee peace and security in the National Assembly and Regional Elections 2025, with more than 412,000 soldiers deployed.
Minister Padrino LĂłpez highlighted that this is an action undertaken by the Venezuelan state “to safeguard the people’s sovereignty.”
“We are here to safeguard this democratic process that is going to reinforce and strengthen our participatory, protagonist, revolutionary democracy, our direct democracy that we are building from the bases of people’s power,” he declared.
The minister stated that the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) has participated in the entire electoral process, starting from the formation of the CNE’s logistics committee, as a procedure of coordination between the two institutions.
Padrino López stated that the May 25 elections are an important event for the country, emphasizing the relevance of having a National Assembly that is at the service of the people and that works in the interests of Venezuela and referring to the “nefarious experience” of the 2015 National Assembly that called for sanctions and foreign intervention against the nation. He appealed to the conscience of the people to vote for the future and development of the country.
CNE calls upon Venezuelans to vote
The vice president of the CNE, Carlos Quintero, said that in the May 25 elections, 569 positions will be elected throughout the country: 285 deputies of the National Assembly for the constitutional period of 2026-2031, 260 state legislators, and 24 governors.
“Every electoral process is an act of sovereignty, but this electoral process marks it even more because we are electing the first governor of the state of Guayana Esequiba,” Quintero highlighted. “On the morning of May 26, we will have a governor in the state of Guayana Esequiba, as well as eight deputies of the National Assembly from the state and seven deputies of the state legislative council.”
Quintero pointed out that this was the mandate expressed by the Venezuelan people in the consultative referendum of December 3, 2023. “We are closing a cycle of sovereignty and raising the expression of the institutionality of the vote in Venezuela,” Quintero said.
He also highlighted the work that has been carried out by the CNE this year in two processes to “strengthen and transfer mechanisms of democratic participation to the people of Venezuela, to the communal circuits” so that in the communal assemblies the people can discuss their needs, prioritize their problems, and then endorse and legitimize their decisions through the vote.
He added that for May 25, more than 490,000 officials have been deployed nationwide, including members of Operation Republic; the Ministry of the Interior, Justice, and Peace; personnel of the Electricity Corporation (CORPOLEC) and of CNE; as well as from other institutions, to coordinate the logistical aspects for the electoral process.
“The National Electoral Council invites the Venezuelan people to participate massively on Sunday,” Quintero said. “The table is set; we have worked tirelessly for the elections of Sunday.”
“On June 1, we are going to elect the indigenous representatives: the three indigenous deputies of the National Assembly and nine deputies of the Legislative Councils, as established by the Constitution,” he stated further.
Quintero stated that Venezuela wants to move forward in peace and that it wants prosperity and to broaden its democracy in peace. He also thanked the members of Operation Republic for the support that they have provided in the past and upcoming electoral processes.
A total of 21.5 million Venezuelans are registered for the May 25 elections.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SL
