Venezuelan opposition says it needs to rebuild after losing elections | Election News

With about 42 percent of voters voting in Sunday’s vote, the Venezuelan opposition suffered a major defeat.

The Venezuelan political opposition needs to rebuild and reflect on its strategy after suffering a severe defeat there weekend elections, said leader Juan Guaido, calling for unity between the leadership of the fragmented movement.

The opposition broke the boycott of the nearly four-year election on Sunday to run for mayor and governor on Sunday, but paid for not running a single candidate against President Nicolas Maduro’s United Socialist Party (PSUV).

Opposition candidates won only three of the 23 states, while Maduro’s allies won 18 governors, according to updated election results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday.

Maduro’s ruling party and its allies were well positioned to claim the last two states, and a PSUV candidate also took over the mayoralty of the capital Caracas. The president described the results of Sunday’s vote as a “tremendous” victory to be “celebrated.”

It was the first time in four years that the opposition compete regional surveys, partly driven by the presence of European Union (EU) observers.

Electoral authorities said Monday that 42.2 percent of the South American nation’s 21 million voters went to the polls on Sunday, although it has not yet released its final official results.

Teresa J of Al Jazeera, Caracas, reported that low voter turnout did not help the opposition.

“They hoped that ground control would help them achieve their goal. However, things did not go as planned, ”Bok said. “The biggest problem here was that about 60% of the population did not vote … but also the large divisions in the opposition.”

Analysts said the decision to delay the opposition’s participation before the vote and the debate over whether to submit candidates would hurt his display.

Guaido, a former president of Congress who is recognized by the U.S. and his allies as the direct leader of Venezuela, said on Monday that the opposition needed to “rebuild itself” after a disappointing outcome.

“A new phase is opening up today,” he said, without giving details. “Today is a time for reflection among our leaders … It is not a time for struggle and selfishness between political leaders.”

Guaido also said what happened on Sunday highlighted the “obvious need for unification” among opposition forces if they are to sue the ruling party or Maduro in the 2024 presidential election.

Earlier Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blink accused the Maduro government of making electoral mistakes that “distorted the process” to decide the outcome in favor of his party, and cited harassment and bans by opposition candidates, voter census manipulation and censorship.

The preliminary report of EU election observers is due on Tuesday, but there was no major report of disruptions.

Meanwhile, Maduro said on Sunday that Mexico will not return to negotiations with the Venezuelan opposition until the famous government envoy is “kidnapped”. Alex Saab – recently extradited to the US for money laundering charges – is the answer.

LecturesThose who started in August want to find a way out of Venezuela’s economic and social crisis.

Guaido said he was cautiously optimistic that the government would return to the table and was discussing with international allies ways to increase pressure on Maduro’s government.