The Maduro government announced today that this year’s parliamentary elections will take place on December 6. The announcement came via the Consejo Nacional Electoral (National Electoral Council, CNE), which is the electoral body of the regime whose members are picked unilaterally by the PSUV.
The announcement comes a day after the CNE announced that it was expanding the size of the National Assembly from 167 to 277 legislators. In making the announcement yesterday, the CNE suggested that its reason for expanding the size of parliament was due to an increase in the number of political parties that are allowed to run.
Maduro celebrated today’s election announcement by calling on all of his supporters to get out and vote. He also indicated that this year’s political campaign season would be different from those of previous elections. Maduro said:
The National Electoral Council has made decisions unanimously, and there’s going to be a really short electoral campaign, a very creative one, a new one. Every party is going to have to mount its campaigns on social media, on the streets, so we have to get ready.
Maduro also bragged that the election was happening at all, saying:
Take note, all of you who say that Venezuela is a dictatorship. Ever since I’ve been president I’ve organized, participated, and respected the electoral power [sic] (…) we’ve had seven elections since I’ve been president these last seven years.
Guaido: Elections Are “A Farce”
Opposition leader Juan Guaido called the December elections “a farce” and said that the opposition would not participate in the vote.
In tweet that accompanied a video message, Guaido said that Venezuelans would not take part on a process that had been “imposed” on them, alluding to the unilateral imposition of the new CNE leadership.
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