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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://resumen-english.org/2025/05/ballots-and-bias-how-the-press-framed-venezuelas-regional-and-legislative-elections/">resumen-english.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Ballots and Bias: How the Press Framed Venezuela\u2019s Regional and Legislative Elections</h1>
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<p>By Roger D. Harris on May 28, 2025</p>
<div id="gmail-attachment_30473" class="gmail-wp-caption"><p><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-30473" src="https://i0.wp.com/resumen-english.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/5-30-rog.jpg?resize=300%2C192&ssl=1" alt="" width="300" height="192" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></p><p id="gmail-caption-attachment-30473" class="gmail-wp-caption-text">New deputies and legislators who were proclaimed by the National Electoral Council (CNE).</p></div>
<p>The pro-government alliance achieved a sweeping victory in
Venezuela\u2019s May 25 elections, while a fractured opposition suffered
losses. Western media distorted the results \u2013 spinning low turnout
claims, ignoring the role of illegal US sanctions, and offering
selective sympathy to elite opposition figures.<span id="gmail-more-30472"></span></p>
<p><strong> </strong><strong>Opposition fractures, pro-government consolidates</strong></p>
<p>At stake for the 54 contesting Venezuelan political parties were
seats for 285 National Assembly deputies, 24 state governors, and 260
regional legislators.</p>
<p>The pro-government coalition won all but one of the governorships,
taking three of the four states previously held by the opposition. The
win in the state of Barinas was particularly symbolic for this was the
birthplace of former President Hugo Chávez; and especially so, because
the winner was Adán Chávez, the late president\u2019s older brother.</p>
<p>Likewise, the Chavista alliance swept the National Assembly, securing
253 out of 285 seats. Notable exceptions were the election of
opposition leaders Henrique Capriles and Henri Falcón, both of whom are
former presidential candidates.</p>
<p><em>The New York Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-regional-election.html?utm_source=substack&utm">reported</a> the same outcomes but spun it as the \u201cresults [rather than the <em>vote</em>]\u2026stripped the opposition of some of the last few positions it held,\u201d inferring fraud.</p>
<p>However, this election outcome was not unexpected because the
opposition was not only divided but a significant portion opted to
boycott the vote. The pro-government forces <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/columns/venezuelas-legislative-and-regional-elections-a-unified-government-faces-a-divided-opposition/">enjoyed</a> a unified effort, an efficient electoral machine, and grassroots support, especially from the communal movement.</p>
<p>\u201cAfter 32 elections, amidst blockades, criminal sanctions, fascism and violence,\u201d Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela-pro-government-alliance-wins-big-in-legislative-and-regional-elections/">affirmed</a>, \u201ctoday we showed that the Bolivarian Revolution is stronger than ever.\u201d</p>
<p><strong>Opposition self-implodes</strong></p>
<p>The headline from <em>Le Monde</em> <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/05/25/opposition-vows-boycott-as-venezuela-holds-divisive-new-elections_6741643_4.html">spun</a>
the voting thus: \u201cVenezuela holds divisive new elections.\u201d Contrary to
what the headline suggests, the divisiveness was not the government\u2019s
doing, but due to the opposition\u2019s perennial internecine warfare.</p>
<p>While the pro-government Great Patriotic Pole alliance around the ruling Socialist Party (PSUV) \u201cworks in unison,\u201d <a href="https://elpais.com/america/2025-05-04/henrique-capriles-la-abstencion-en-venezuela-solo-facilita-las-cosas-a-maduro.html">according</a> to opposition leader Henrique Capriles, the electoral opposition <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/venezuelas-2025-legislative-and-regional-elections-a-quick-guide/">divided</a>
into three warring camps. They in turn were surrounded by a circular
firing squad of the far-right abstentionists, calling for a vote
boycott.</p>
<p>The abstentionists were assembled around Maria Corina Machado. She
had been pardoned for her involvement in the short-lived 2002 US-backed
coup but was subsequently disqualified from running for office for
constitutional offenses. Following Washington\u2019s lead \u2013 which has not
recognized a Venezuelan presidential election as legitimate since 2012 \u2013
the far-right opposition rejected electoral means for achieving regime
change and has even <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-should-do-much-more-amid-venezuela-election-dispute-opposition-leader-machado-2024-09-05">pleaded</a> in effect for US military intervention.</p>
<p>Machado\u2019s faction, which claimed that Edmund González Urrutia won the
2024 presidential election, does not recognize their country\u2019s
constitutional authority. Consequently, when summoned by the Venezuela
supreme court, they refused to present evidence that they won, removing
any legal way for their claimed victory to be accepted. Machado <a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-regional-election-machado-boycott-repression-2b994304869b9d89740b3ba59023d94a">maintained</a> that voting only \u201clegitimizes\u201d the government, bitterly calling those participating in the democratic process \u201cscorpions.\u201d</p>
<p>Machado spent the election in self-imposed hiding. She further dug herself into a hole, after urging even harsher <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/28/venezuelas-trump-oil-licenses-00206806?utm">punishing US sanctions</a> on her own people, by appearing to <a href="https://www.piratewireservices.com/p/venezuelan-opposition-leaders-defend?utm">support Trump\u2019s</a> sending of Venezuelan migrants to the CECOT <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/03/20/human-rights-watch-declaration-prison-conditions-el-salvador-jgg-v-trump-case?">torture prison</a> in El Salvador.</p>
<p><em>El Pais</em> <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-24/the-journey-of-maria-corina-machado-from-seeking-us-help-to-topple-chavismo-to-trying-to-defeat-it-at-the-polls.html#:~:text=than%2090,that%20Venezuela%20of%20young%20exiles">sympathized</a> with her as \u201cdriven by the strength of the pain of being a mother who has been separated from her three children.\u201d The <em>WaPo</em> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/24/venezuela-elections-machado-opposition-success/">described</a>
the middled-aged divorcé from one of the wealthiest families in
Venezuela as a \u201ccourageous leader\u201d whose \u201cthree children are exiled
abroad.\u201d In fact, her adult children live comfortably in the US and
Colombia.</p>
<p>To this manufactured sympathy for the privileged, Venezuelan-Canadian sociologist Maria Paez Victor <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/04/29/where-are-the-defenders-of-the-human-rights-of-venezuelans/">asks</a>
\u201cwhere are the defenders of the human rights of Venezuelans?\u201d She
excoriates the collective West for their selective concern for human
rights, emphasizing the neglect of Venezuelans\u2019 rights amid external
pressures and US sanctions.</p>
<p><strong> </strong><strong>The disputed Essequibo </strong></p>
<p>The headline for <em>The New York Times\u2019s</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/world/americas/venezuela-election-essequibo-guyana.html">report</a>
spun the elections with: \u201cVenezuela is holding an election for another
country\u2019s land.\u201d This refers to elections for governor and legislators
in the Essequibo (Guayana Esequiba in Spanish), which is in fact a <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/03/30/rubio-threatens-venezuela-with-military-action/">disputed land</a>.</p>
<p>For nearly two centuries, Venezuelans have considered that region
part of their country, when they wrested it from the Spanish
colonialists in 1835. In the questionable Paris Arbitral Award, with the
US representing Venezuela, the Essequibo was handed over to the UK in
1899 (then colonial British Guiana and now independent Guyana). Ever
since, it has been contested territory.</p>
<p>In 1962, Venezuela formally revived its claim at the UN, asserting that the 1899 award was null and void. Not surprisingly, the<em> Times</em>
sides with Guyana or more precisely with what they report as \u201cExxon
Mobil\u2019s multibillion-dollar investments\u201d plus \u201cmilitary ties with the
US.\u201d</p>
<p>This first-time vote for political representation in the Essequibo is
seen by Venezuelans across their political spectrum as an important
step to assert their claim. It follows a <a href="https://orinocotribune.com/essequibo-referendum-yes-wins-overwhelmingly-significant-turnout/?utm">referendum</a>
in 2023, which affirmed popular support for the Essequibo as part of
their national territory. The actual voting was held in the neighboring <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/26/venezuela-election-results-who-lost-won-and-what-next?utm">Bolivar state</a>.</p>
<p>On cue, the western-aligned press criticized the vote on the Essequibo as a \u201c<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/10/observer-view-maduro-land-grab-guyana-venezuela?utm">cynical ploy</a>\u201d
by the Maduro administration to divert attention from other pressing
problems. Meanwhile, they obscure the increasing US military penetration
in neighboring <a href="https://guyanabusinessjournal.com/2025/03/guarding-guyana-u-s-security-support-amid-venezuelas-essequibo-ambitions/?utm">Guyana</a> and in the wider <a href="https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2025/02/14/trump-administration-inherits-southcoms-expansion-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/">region</a>.</p>
<p>Yet even the <em>NYT</em> had to admit: \u201cClaims to the Essequibo
region are deeply ingrained among many Venezuelans\u2026 [and even] María
Corina Machado, the most prominent opposition leader, visited the area
by canoe in 2013 to advance Venezuela\u2019s claim.\u201d Venezuelan journalist
Jésus Rodríguez Espinoza (pers. comm.) described the vote as \u201can
exercise in national sovereignty.\u201d</p>
<p><strong>Illegal sanctions \u2013 the elephant in the room</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>A <em>WaPo</em> opinion piece <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/07/24/venezuela-elections-machado-opposition-success/">claims</a>,
\u201cthat the actual root cause of poverty has been a lack of democracy and
freedom,\u201d as if the US and its allies have not imposed sanctions <a href="https://mondediplo.com/outside-in/sanctions-trump">deliberately</a> designed to cripple the Venezuelan economy. These \u201cunilateral coercive measures,\u201d <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-unilateral-coercive-measures">condemned</a> by the UN, are <a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/12/29/lots-of-painful-formatting-on-this-one-sorry-about-that-unilateral-coercive-measures-and-human-rights/">illegal</a> under international law because they constitute collective punishment.</p>
<p>But the fact that Venezuelans had to vote while being subjected to <em>illegal</em>
coercion is completely ignored by the corporate press. That is, the
existence of sanctions are recognized but instead of exposing their
illegal and coercive essence, the press normalizes them. The story
untold by the press is the <em>courage</em> of the Venezuelan people who continue to support their government under such adverse conditions.</p>
<p><strong>Disparaging the election</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>Washington and its aligned press cannot question
the popular sweep for the Socialist Party\u2019s alliance in Venezuela,
because it is so obvious. Nonetheless, they disparage the mandate. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-regional-election.html?utm">chorus of criticism</a>
alleges the fraudulent nature of previous elections, although it is a
geopolitical reality that Washington considers any popular vote against
its designated candidates illegitimate.</p>
<p>For this particular election, these State Department stenographers focused on the supposedly <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-26/maduro-sweeps-venezuelan-regional-vote-marked-by-low-turnout?utm">low turnout</a>.
In fact, the turnout was typical for a non-presidential election
contest and in the same turnout percentage ballpark as US midterm
elections.</p>
<p>Moreover, the pro-government slate actually garnered <a href="https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/una-lectura-sociopolitica-de-los-resultados-del-25m?utm">more votes</a> than it had in the previous regional elections. The Chavista core of older, working class women remains solid.</p>
<p>When Elvis Amoroso, president of Venezuela\u2019s authority (CNE) qualified the turnout percentages to apply to \u201c<a href="https://orinocotribune.com/venezuelas-central-electoral-authority-announces-victors-of-may-25-elections/">active voters</a>,\u201d
he meant those in-country. Due to the large amount of recent out
migration, a significant number are registered but cannot vote because
they are abroad.</p>
<p>What was notably low was voting for the highly divided opposition,
major factions of which called for a boycott. Further, the opposition
had been discredited by <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/02/07/usaid-financed-guaido-to-weaken-venezuelan-government-says-president-maduro">revelations</a>
that some had received and misused hundreds of millions of dollars from
USAID. More than ever, the inept opposition has negatively exposed
itself to the broad electorate.</p>
<p><strong> </strong>The overwhelming sentiment on the street in Venezuela is for an end to partisan conflict and for continuing the slow <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/tales-of-resistance-economic-indicators-and-appropriate-yardsticks/?utm">economic recovery</a>.
Challenges ahead include inflationary winds, a rising unofficial dollar
exchange rate, and above all the animus of the Trump administration
that is currently in <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/05/23/trump-rubio-venezuela-oil-deal-big-bill">internal debate</a> over whether to try to deal the Bolivarian Revolution a quick or a slow death. Either way, <a href="https://orinocotribune.com/venezuela-minister-cabello-confirms-arrest-of-38-mercenaries-amid-new-terrorist-plot/">destabilization</a> efforts continue.</p>
<p>To which Socialist Party leader and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuelas-2025-legislative-and-regional-elections-rolling-coverage/">said</a>:
\u201cNo one can stop our people. Not sanctions, nor blockades, nor
persecution \u2013 because when a people decide to be free, no one can stop
them.\u201d</p>
<p><strong><em>Roger D. Harris</em></strong><em> is with the human rights organization <a href="https://taskforceamericas.org/">Task Force on the Americas</a>, the <a href="https://uspeacecouncil.org/">US Peace Council</a>, and the <a href="https://www.venezuelasolidaritynetwork.org/">Venezuela Solidarity Network</a>.</em></p>
<p>Source: Resumen Latinoamericano \u2013 English</p>
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