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<h1 class="title">Venezuelan Opposition Sweeps Parliamentary
Elections</h1>
<div class="submitted">By <span class="author">Rachael Boothroyd
Rojas </span> </div>
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<div class="block-inner"><b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11753">http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/11753</a></small></small></small></b><br>
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<p>Caracas, December 7th 2015, (<a
href="http://venezuelanalysis.com">venezuelanalysis.com</a>)
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has released the
preliminary but “irreversible” results of the country’s National
Assembly elections. </p>
<p>In the early hours of this Monday morning, Tibisay Lucena, the
President of the CNE, congratulated the Venezuelan people on its
impressive “demonstration of civility” before announcing that the
Venezuelan opposition coalition, the Roundtable of Democratic
Unity (MUD), had swept to victory in the Venezuelan legislative
elections. </p>
<p>According to Lucena, the ruling United Socialist Party of
Venezuela (PSUV) has so far gained just 46 seats in parliament
while their political opponents, the MUD, have gained 99 out of a
total of 167 - according to the most recent count. Twenty-two
seats are yet to be announced, including three representatives for
the country’s indigenous population. </p>
<p>Tibisay also highlighted the unprecedented levels of political
participation and revealed that turnout had reached 74.25% of the
registered electorate. </p>
<p>The announcement came on the heels of intense voting throughout
Venezuela, with many voting centres remaining open following their
programmed 6pm closing time in order to attend to voters queuing
outside. </p>
<p>The victory hands the MUD a “simple majority” in the National
Assembly, but this could change to a “qualified majority”
depending on the outcome of the remaining twenty-two seats. </p>
<p>If the MUD goes on to win 100 seats it will be able to remove
ministers from the presidential cabinet. If it manages to gain
more than 111 seats, the coalition would wield enough power in the
legislative body to dismiss Supreme Court Judges, reform the
Constitution and convoke a recall referendum of the national
executive without having collected the minimum quota of signatures
required by the Bolivarian Constitution. </p>
<p>President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and leader of
the PSUV, Nicolas Maduro, moved to accept the results - the most
debilitating defeat for the ruling Chavista government since it
came to power in 1999 - immediately on national television. </p>
<p>“It’s not a time to cry, it’s a time to fight,” stated Maduro. </p>
<p>“The struggle for socialism is just beginning-we are experts in
starting over, we came from the streets, we are the people of
difficulties,” he added. <br>
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