Venezuela’s main opposition parties are banned from taking part in 2018 presidential election, President Nicolas Maduro has announced.
The president said only parties which took part in December 10 mayoral polls would be able to contest the presidency.
Opposition leaders from the Justice First, Popular Will and Democratic Action parties boycotted the vote because they said the electoral system was biased.
Nicolas Maduro insists the Venezuelan system is entirely trustworthy.
In a speech on local polls day, he said the opposition parties had “disappeared from the political map”.
“A party that has not participated today and has called for the boycott of the elections can’t participate anymore,” he said.
Two months ago, the three main opposition parties announced they would be boycotting December 10 vote, saying it only served what they called President Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship.
Nicolas Maduro says his party won more than 300 of the 335 mayoral races being contested. The election board put turn out at 47%.
Venezuela has been mired in a worsening economic crisis characterized by shortages of basic goods and soaring inflation.
Presiedent Maduro said he was following the criteria set by the National Constituent Assembly in banning opposition parties from contesting next year’s election.
However, the assembly, which came into force in August and has the ability to rewrite the constitution, is made up exclusively of government loyalists. Opposition parties see it as a way for the president to cling to power.
The presidential vote had been scheduled for December 2018, but analysts say it could now be brought forward.
Venezuela has a population of more than 30 million people. It has some of the world’s largest oil deposits as well as huge quantities of coal and iron ore.
Despite its rich natural resources many Venezuelans live in poverty. This led President Nicolas Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, to style himself as a champion of the poor during his 14 years in office.
Now the country is starkly divided between supporters of President Nicolas Maduro and those who want an end to the Socialist Party’s 18 years in government.
Nicolas Maduro supporters say his party has lifted many people out of poverty, but critics say it has eroded Venezuela’s democratic institutions and mismanaged its economy.
More than seven million Venezuelan voters have taken part in an opposition-organized referendum in the country, according to academics monitoring the poll.
The referendum result strongly backed opposition to the socialist government’s proposed constitutional changes.
Venezuela remains polarized between supporters of President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition, which wants fresh elections.
A 61-year-old woman was shot dead while queuing to vote in the capital, Caracas.
Cecilia García Arocha, the rector of the Central University of Venezuela, said 6,492,381 people voted within the country and another 693,789 at polling stations abroad. However, the vote has no legal status.
The turnout is slightly less than the 7.7 million people who voted for opposition candidates at the 2015 parliamentary elections. There are 19.5 million registered voters in Venezuela.
Voting Yes or No to three questions, 98% rejected the new assembly proposed by President Nicolas Maduro and backed a call for elections before his term of office ends in 2019.
They also voted for the armed forces to defend the current constitution.
An official vote will be held on July 30 for a new assembly, which would have the power to rewrite the constitution and to dissolve state institutions. However, critics say the new assembly could herald dictatorship.
The July 16 unofficial poll was held in improvised polling stations at theaters, sports grounds and roundabouts within Venezuela and in more than 100 countries around the world.
“They have convened an internal consultation with the opposition parties, with their own mechanisms, without electoral rulebooks, without prior verification, without further verification. As if they are autonomous and decide on their own,” he said.
Nicolas Maduro argues that the constituent assembly is the only way to help Venezuela out of its economic and political crisis.
Opposition leaders fear that the process of setting up a new constituent assembly and rewriting the constitution would almost certainly delay this year’s regional elections and the 2018 presidential election.
They also fear that the constituent assembly would further weaken the National Assembly, Venezuela’s opposition-controlled legislative body.
Venezuela opposition has set up roadblocks and staged demonstrations demanding elections as the country’s political and economic crisis deepens.
Protesters responded with defiance to President Nicolas Maduro’s call for a new constitution to end unrest that has killed 28 people.
Nicolas Maduro said his move was necessary to fend off a foreign-backed plot against him.
The US said it was a bid to cling to power, while Brazil called it a “coup”.
President Maduro’s opponents want to hold a vote to remove him, blaming the left-wing president for food shortages that have led to rioting.
The president has rejected their calls and issued a presidential decree creating a 500-member “constituent assembly” to rewrite the constitution, a step that would bypass the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
Photo Reuters
Nicolas Maduro announced the step to thousands of his supporters at a May Day rally two days ago.
Elsewhere, security forces deployed tear gas and water cannon at anti-government demonstrators.
Opposition leaders have called for a “mega protest” on May 3.
There has been widespread international criticism of the move.
The head of the Washington-based Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, called it wrongheaded, unconstitutional and fraudulent.
The US state department spokesman Michael Fitzpatrick told reporters: “We have deep concerns about the motivation for this constituent assembly which overrides the will of the Venezuelan people and further erodes Venezuelan democracy.
“What President Maduro is trying to do yet again is change the rules of the game.”
Meanwhile, Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes called the move a “coup”.
“It’s another step in breaking the democratic order, which contradicts the country’s own constitution,” he said.
In Venezuela itself, in the opposition-controlled National Assembly, lawmakers voted to reject the new body with many saying President Nicolas Maduro was attempting to sideline the legislature and avoid new elections.
Nicolas Maduro was elected in 2013 to succeed the late Hugo Chavez, a popular figure who introduced wide-ranging social welfare programs.
However, since then, falling prices for Venezuelan oil exports have cut government revenue and there have been shortages of food, baby milk, medicine and other basics.
The IMF has forecast that inflation in Venezuela will be above 700% in 2017.
Presidential elections are due at the end of 2018.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has said he wants to resume talks with the opposition.
Nicolas Maduro also said he wanted local elections to take place.
The president’s comments came as another large demonstration is planned for April 24 after three weeks of tense protests across the country.
Demonstrators have been calling for presidential elections due next year to be brought forward and for Nicolas Maduro to step down.
The 2016 negotiations between the opposition and the government broke down when the opposition accused Nicolas Maduro of breaking agreements and using the talks to buy time.
Image source Wikimedia
Speaking during his Sunday TV program, Nicolas Maduro endorsed the idea of elections for mayors and state governors but did not mention a vote at presidential level.
“Elections – yes, I want elections now,” the president said.
“That is what I say as the head of state, and as the head of government.”
Elections for state governors were to have taken place in December 2016, and local mayoral elections are due this year.
April 22 saw silent marches across Venezuela as protestors, wearing white, showed their respect for around 20 people who have died in recent demonstrations.
Human rights campaigners say more than 1,000 people were detained during recent disturbances and over 700 are still in detention.
The protests were sparked by an attempt by the government-controlled Supreme Court to assume some powers of the opposition-dominated Congress.
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