As Venezuela Opposition Shuns Vote, Many Feel It’s a ‘Waste of Time’
Only a few are coming to vote." Yon Goicoechea, one of the five opposition candidates contending for the mayoralty in El Hatillo, said
that widespread abstention and disarray among the opposition assured that the government’s party "will win without fraud." Pro-government voters seemed far less anxious about the course of the day, saying that the opposition had only itself to blame for not fully taking advantage of the opportunity.
All he was sure of was that he would vote — an expression of his "rights," he said — and
that he would cast his vote against the Maduro government, even if he suspected that the electoral process would be riddled with fraud.
Untethered from their parties — and from the scaffolding of support and money
that such relationships bring — many of their campaigns barely registered with potential voters, providing little contest against the government-backed candidates of the United Socialist Party.
The party already controls the presidency, the all-powerful Constituent Assembly — the new lawmaking body
that Mr. Maduro created this summer, while neutering the opposition-controlled National Assembly — and nearly all of the country’s governorships.
Participation, opposition leaders argued, would only serve to legitimize Mr. Maduro’s rule, which they —
and some foreign governments — have called a dictatorship.
After the unexpected defeat of most of its candidates in regional elections in October, a broad but fractious alliance of opposition parties announced
that it was boycotting the municipal contests to protest what it called a rigged, corrupt electoral system that favored Mr. Maduro and his party.
Jesús Gómez said that I don’t know who any of the opposition candidates are,