2020 Venezuelan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Venezuela by 2020[lower-alpha 2] to elect the 167 deputies of the National Assembly.

Next Venezuelan parliamentary election
By December 2020
All 167 seats in the National Assembly
84 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Juan Guaidó Francisco Torrealba[lower-alpha 1]
Party Independent PSUV
Alliance MUD GPP
Leader since 2019 2019
Leader's seat Vargas 1 Portuguesa
Last election 112 seats, 56.2% 55 seats, 40.9%
Seats needed
Incumbent President of the National Assembly

Juan Guaidó
Independent

Background

Since the 1999 Constitutional Assembly elections, the National Assembly was dominated by alliances supportive of President Hugo Chávez. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, most opposition parties decided to withdraw, resulting in all seats being won by the Fifth Republic Movement and other parties supportive of Chávez. For the 2010 elections, an alliance of opposition parties was formed by the Democratic Unity Roundtable to contest the elections, and managed to win 64 seats. The PSUV, which was an alliance formed by Chávez from the Fifth Republic Movement and a number of smaller parties, won 96 seats, maintaining their majority, but lost their two-thirds and three-fifths supermajority. Fatherland for All, a small left-wing party, won two seats.[6]

After Chávez's death in 2013, his hand-picked successor Maduro was narrowly elected president, continuing Chávez' ideological influence.[7] In the 2015 parliamentary elections, the Democratic Unity Roundtable alliance gained a supermajority of 112 seats against 55 won by the GPP. In terms of popular vote, the MUD received 7.7 million votes, an increase of 2.4 million from the 2010 elections, becoming the most voted party in Venezuelan electoral history. The result was a decisive defeat for the PSUV and its wider alliance (GPP), which lost control of the Assembly for the first time since 1999.[8]

In the midst of the ongoing constitutional crisis, a different body, the Constituent Assembly was elected in 2017, with the intent of re-writing the Venezuelan Constitution. From that point forward, the two legislatures have operated in parallel, with the National Assembly forming the primary opposition to president Nicolás Maduro, and with the Constituent Assembly being his primary supporters. As of May 2019, the Constituent Assembly mandate is expected to expire on 31 December 2020, a measure that replaces the previous resolution of August 2017 that established its validity for at least two years.[9]

In 2018, Nicolás Maduro proposed holding the parliamentary elections alongside the presidential elections scheduled between April and May 2018. However, the proposal was later denied by the National Electoral Council, which stated that holding both elections together would be too complicated.[10]

In February 2019, Maduro announced support, which was proposed by the Constituent Assembly, for an early election within 2019.[11] During a speech at a pro-government rally celebrating the 20th anniversary of the revolution led by former President Hugo Chavez, He stated: "They [the opposition] want to bring forward elections, let's have elections".[12]

In November 2019, Juan Guaidó and Stalin González, along with former rector of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Vicente Díaz, have declared that the election would not solve the nationwide crisis.[13][14][15] Guaidó said that the opposition would not participate in any space that did not contribute to the solution of the crisis.[13]

As of May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, electoral organizations such as the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory and the Education Assembly Electoral Observation Network, assured that there were many obstacles in Venezuela left to surpass before a electoral process takes place by December 2020, including conditions, technological problems and a lack of agreement between political factions, saying that having the elections in 2020 did not appear feasible.[16] The Committee of Electoral Candidacies, in charge of appointing a new National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE), announced that it would suspend its meetings because of the pandemic.[17]

Supreme Tribunal of Justice chooses new Electoral Council

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), loyal to Nicolás Maduro, declared in June that the National Assembly had not named rectors for the CNE. The opposition to Maduro administration denounced it as attempt to obstruct the procedure for the elections.[18][19]

The TSJ decided on 12 June 2020 to name the electoral board that would oversee the parliamentary elections. Indira Alfonzo was declared as the new chief of the CNE through Facebook. Members of the National Assembly argue that the TSJ is not authorized to choose the board, according to the Venezuelan constitution.[20] The Vice-President of the National Assembly, Juan Pablo Guanipa, declared “As Venezuelans we make our demand to the world for a free vote!”, calling Maduro’s government a dictatorship.[19] Juan Guaidó posted on Twitter "We haven’t given up our rights. They’ve got the game locked up and they’ve already started hanging up their phones. Don’t be fooled by their distractions.”[19] According to Associated Press, moderate opponents of Maduro administration, trying to reach an agreement to create free elections, found the TSJ decision "disheartening".[19]

Luis Vicente León from the Venezuelan poll firm Datanalisis, said that the TSJ selected two members from outside the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, in order to give the appearance of balance. But that this ultimately does not change anything, as the TSJ acted unilaterally, outside any political negotiation.[19] León said “This will not generate any confidence that the opposition parties participated or lead to mass participation in an election. It only adds a brushstroke of opposition participation to a biased elections commission, amplifying the country’s division without solving the problem.”[19]

Electoral system

The 167 members of the National Assembly consist of 113 seats elected by first-past-the-post voting, 51 elected by proportional representation and three reserved for members of the indigenous community.[21]

Opinion polls
Date Pollster PSUV AD PJ VP VV MUD UNT COPEI Other Undecided No party
June 2020 ICS 35.1% - - - - 17.0%[lower-alpha 3] - - 9.8% 38.1% -
26 Aug-6 Sep 2019 Pronóstico 13.9% 3.3% 5.1% 10.5% 5.0% — 0.4% 1.7% 0.2% 1.7% 58.0%
6-15 Jun 2019 Pronóstico 12.8% 4.0% 5.5% 10.9% 2.8% — 0.4% 1.9 % 0.4% 1.2% 59.2%
May 2019 Datanálisis 11.1% 8.5% 3.2% 4.2% 0.8% 4.4% 2.0% — 2.0% 3.2% 59.2%
17 Mar 2019 DatinCorp 17.6% 8.2% 6.1% 7.0% 1.3% — 1.0% — — — 49.2%
Mar 2018 Datanálisis 18.1% 2.2% 0.9% 1.0% 0.2% 8.0% 1.8% — 1.4% 4.8% 60.1%

See also

Notes
  1. To the opposition majority of the Assembly, Torrealba lost his position as deputy after being appointed as Labor Minister by Nicolás Maduro in 2017. However, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) appointed him as leader of the Great Patriotic Pole block.[1]
  2. Elections in Venezuela usually take place on the first Sunday of December.[2][3][4] However, the 2018 presidential election took place in May.[5]
  3. As "opposition and their allies".

References
  1. Martínez, Deisy (5 January 2020). "De "inusual" pero válida e "histórica" califica Torrealba juramentación de Luis Parra al frente de la AN" (in Spanish). Efecto Cocuyo. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  2. Villabona Blanco, Pilar (September–October 1986). "Política y elecciones en Venezuela" (PDF). Revista de Estudios Políticos (Nueva Época). 53. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  3. Press, Europa (13 September 2011). "Elecciones presidenciales en Venezuela serán el 7 de octubre de 2012". www.notimerica.com. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  4. "El chavismo finalmente fijó la fecha de las elecciones parlamentarias: serán el 6 de diciembre". Infobae (in Spanish). 22 June 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  5. ccarmona (31 January 2018). "ADELANTAR ELECCIONES". El Impulso (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  6. "Divulgación Elecciones Parlamentarias – 26 de Septiembre de 2010" (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  7. "Nicolas Maduro sworn in as new Venezuelan president". BBC News. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  8. Dreier, Hannah (7 December 2015). "Venezuela's Opposition Wins Control of National Assembly". ABC News. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  9. "Venezuelan constituent extends its operation until the end of 2020". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  10. Venezuela: electoral authority rejects President Maduro's mega-elections Deutsche Welle, February 24, 2018
  11. "Venezuela's Maduro proposes earlier elections for National Assembly". Reuters. 2 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  12. "Venezuela's Maduro calls for early legislative election". 2 February 2019. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. García, Cristofer (31 October 2019). "Guaidó: No vamos a participar en parlamentarias ni con nuevo CNE" (in Spanish). Efecto Cocuyo. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  14. Alvarado H, Judith (7 October 2019). "Stalin González: Elecciones de la AN no solucionarán la crisis en Venezuela" (in Spanish). El Universal. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  15. "Vicente Díaz: Las parlamentarias no resolverán el problema, pero deben realizarse" (in Spanish). El Nacional. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  16. Martínez, Sammy Paola (5 May 2020). "Organizaciones electorales: Parlamentarias en 2020 lucen poco viables". El Pitazo (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  17. Murillo, Yuskerli (16 March 2020). "Comité para designar nuevo CNE suspenderá reuniones". El Universal (Caracas) (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  18. "Venezuela's Supreme Court says congress failed to name electoral authorities". Reuters. 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  19. Smith, Scott (13 June 2020). "Venezuela's opposition sharply rejects new elections board". Associated Press. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  20. "Venezuela top court names new electoral council, opposition defiant". Reuters. 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  21. Electoral system IFES
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