Venezuela Ruling Socialists Win Elections, Hold ‘Sham’ Vote in Guyana

Venezuela’s ruling socialist party won nearly 83 percent of the votes in Sunday’s election, maintaining its significant majority in the National Assembly, in a contest that also saw a “sham” vote in the oil-rich Essequibo region of Guyana that President Nicolás Maduro claims as Venezuelan territory, Reuters reported. 

Ahead of the election, some opposition leaders had asked voters to abstain in protest of the official results of the July 2024 presidential election, which authorities claimed Maduro had won despite evidence to the contrary, according to the Associated Press. 

Still, other opposition officials urged people to vote to prevent the opposition from being eliminated completely from the government. 

Voter turnout to decide on 24 state governors and 285 lawmakers was 42.6 percent of 21 million eligible voters, similar to the 2021 elections. Voting centers were left empty at times, but senior government officials insisted the turnout was so overwhelming they had to remain open past the scheduled time. 

The results of Sunday’s elections will keep Maduro’s party in control of the attorney general’s office and the top court, whose members are elected by lawmakers. 

Maduro also staged regional elections to elect a governor and legislators to represent the disputed oil-rich region of Essequibo, which is internationally recognized as part of Guyana, the Washington Post wrote. 

Guyanese officials have said the vote is illegitimate, and the US State Department called Maduro’s election there a “sham.” 

Analysts say that Maduro is using the election to escalate a long-standing territorial dispute to appropriate the region’s oil reserves. 

Venezuela has long claimed El Esequibo as its own, but Guyana always rejected those claims, citing an 1899 decision that had settled the dispute. In 2023, Maduro held a national referendum over Venezuela’s right to claim sovereignty over El Esequibo and claimed almost total support from voters. However, international analysts and observers questioned the results because of low voter turnout. 

The International Court of Justice, involved in the case since Guyana filed a complaint over the region in 2018, said that Venezuela could not conduct an election in the disputed territory. 

The night before Sunday’s election, Guyana held a “national patriotic concert” where people waved Guyanese flags and publicly reaffirmed that Essequibo is part of their territory.