Venezuela’s authoritarian regime staged congressional elections Sunday that gave President Nicolás Maduro complete control of all levers of power in a vote the country’s opposition and its supporters, including the U.S., rejected as fraudulent.
Until now Venezuela’s single-chamber congress, the National Assembly, had been the only government body under opposition leadership. But with Mr. Maduro’s regime having handed control of opposition parties to allies and exiled or jailed prominent adversaries, most opposition leaders called on their countrymen to boycott the vote in protest even if it meant the regime would dominate all of government and the armed forces.
The outcome has never really been in doubt in a country whose government is closely allied to Communist Cuba, Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Iran. Except for a few breakaway candidates not allied with Mr. Maduro, ruling party politicians took the vast majority of the 277 seats in the National Assembly. Among those who won seats were Cilia Flores, Mr. Maduro’s wife, and Diosdado Cabello, a powerful figure in the ruling movement who had warned Venezuelans that food handouts could be withheld if they didn’t vote.❐
WSJ
