2020 Venezuelan Parliamentary electoral type event

[Kingpoleon]

Hm. It’s almost like they need a unifying figure to rally back around. Maybe Luisa Ortega Díaz?

Is there any chance we will see Baduel released? He’s the one the opposition would really like to see, from my understanding.

[MRCVzla]

To sum up again, these days, once the deadline for candidate nominations is over, the panorama of those who intend to participate in this "electoral type event" or parliamentary election has been clarifying. Three alliances or coalitions between national parties stand out, plus another 3 parties that will present candidates within their lists, either from banned or intervened parties or from local/regional organizations.

1) Great Patriotic Pole Simón Bolívar (GPPSB): the Chavismo stands with the objective of "recovering" the Assembly and its "legitimacy" abroad (aka trying to recover assets taken by the Guaidó administration as CITGO or Venezuelan gold saved in London, etc). With the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela, no needs presentation) at the head as always, it is allied with 8 other parties:
- Venezuelan Popular Unity (UPV): the former party of the late Lina Ron, a well-known radical chavista, currently led by Henry Hernández.
- Authentic Renewal Organization (ORA): Christian-evangelical party, its leader is Luis Reyes, former presidential candidate in 2006 and 2012.
- People's Electoral Movement (MEP): the veteran purple party founded in the 60s, social democracy.
- For the Social Democracy (PODEMOS): social democratic party led since 2012 by the former governor of Aragua Didalco Bolívar, when the TSJ intervened the party on his behalf to avoid allying with the opposition.
- Movement We Are Venezuela (MSV): the "civic" wing of the PSUV, once led by the current VP Delcy Rodríguez.
- Political Movement Alliance for Change (MPAPC): led by former student leader (and former opponent) Ricardo Sánchez, also civic.
- Fatherland for All (PPT): social democratic party intervened by the TSJ to a faction favorable to continue in an electoral alliance with Maduro, led by Ilenia Medina.
- Unified Tendencies to Reach the Organized Revolutionary Action Movement (TUPAMARO): far-left party, also intervened by the TSJ.
The national list (chosen proportionally according to the votes obtained in the regional lists) will be headed by Diosdado Cabello, followed by the "first combatant" Cilia Flores. Until now Minister Jorge Rodríguez will head the list for the Capital District, the campaign command will bear the name of the late Darío Vivas, the well-known Chavista dirigent who died of COVID-19 in August.

2) Democratic Alliance: This so-called "opposition" coalition is made up of 5 parties, 4 of them members of the so-called "National Dialogue Table" or "table" plus one of the opposition parties intervened by the TSJ.
- Hope for the Change (ELCAMBIO) of the evangelical pastor and former presidential candidate Javier Bertucci.
- Let's Change Citizen Movement (CMC) of MP Timoteo Zambrano.
- Advanced Progressive (AP) of former Lara governor and former presidential candidate Henri Falcón.
- The electoral wing of the COPEI social-Christian party led by Luis Carlos Alvarado.
- The electoral wing of Acción Democrática (AD), intervened by the TSJ and awarded to Bernabé Gutiérrez.
These parties are open about modifying their lists to add other "opposition" parties, especially the Henrique Capriles one.

3) United Venezuela Alliance: alliance related to the so-called "CLAP bench" or the "scorpions" led by the disputed "president" of the AN (recognized by the TSJ) Luis Parra, plus other deputies involved in corruption cases and who have achieved with the help of Justice, intervene some of the main opposition parties in their favor. They claim to be from the "center" and promote "renewal and change", they go with 3 electoral cards.
- Venezuela Unida (VU): led by Parra himself and other MPs such as Conrado Pérez or Chaid Bucarán, they use the card that belonged to the MIN Unidad party (again, intervened by the TSJ) and its symbols are similar to those of the old MUD unit electoral card.
- Primero Venezuela (PV): related to MP José Brito and other transfers of Primero Justicia, a party originally granted to Brito by the TSJ, but this measure was suspended, so they gave him the card of another authorized opposition party (Citizen Action in Positive, ACEP) to nominate their candidates, their symbols also resembles the PJ ones (black and yellow).
- The electoral wing of Popular Will-Activists (VPA), intervened by the TSJ and granted to MP José Gregorio Noriega.

Three other parties will run alone but with alliances within their lists:
- Solutions for Venezuela (SPV) by Claudio Fermín, away from the "mesita" will go in alliance with the REDES party of Chavista Juan Barreto.
- Union and Progress (UNIÓN PROGRESO), a split from COPEI led by former presidential candidate Eduardo Fernández and other leaders of the "green tent", will present itself with the help of regional parties.
- Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), the communists, who still support Maduro but disagree in the direction of his government, present the "Popular Revolutionary Alliance" where they are accompanied in their lists of leaders by the intervened PPT and TUPAMARO and others revolutionary left social movements.

Other national parties, mostly "opposition" will appear alone without alliances:
- Liberal Procitizens (LPC) of the journalist Leocenis García, self-proclaims as "center-right".
- Popular Political Unit 89 (UPP89) of Chavista dissidents.
- New Vision for my Country (NUVIPA) of a Christian-evangelical nature, also intervened by the TSJ since the majority faction of the party supports Guaidó.
- Movement to Socialism (MAS), a member of the "mesita" but they present candidates away from it.
- Ecological Movement of Venezuela (MOVEV), a green "opposition" party
- And finally, The Force of the Change (FDC), the party related to the former governor of Miranda and former opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, and which served in 2017 and 2018 to support several of the opposition mayors.

Although Capriles motivated to reconsider the call for the abstention of the "majority opposition", members close to the FDC party say that they presented candidates "to fill spaces" while the final position of the former opposition leader is decided, closer to improving the unfavorable electoral conditions and a hypothetical postponement of the election date depending on how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the entire electoral process.

In this last area, the CNE is open to exploring scenarios such as enabling more than one date for the holding of the electoral act. Even Maduro said that if doses of the Russian vaccine arrive in the country, some of them should be supplied to the candidates of the elections to be able to campaign in the street.

Meanwhile, in Guaidó's group, they ratified a "unitary pact" made up of 27 parties in which they consistently reject the "electoral fraud" that the election represents and ignore the result that arises from it, and among the options to reactivate civil actions a "popular consultation" is proposed, not so completely clarified.

[Skye]

Let me expand a bit. The period for submitting alliances and candidacies is over. It's a rather long list of parties and alliances, but aside from the Chavista coalition, the one you really want to pay attention to is the Fuerza del Cambio (Henrique Capriles's) party, especially if he does end up forming an alliance with the Democratic Alliance. Candidacies can be modified all the way until November, so it may be a while before we know who exactly is running and with who. Even now we don't have complete information, since the CNE hasn't released the candidacies submitted.

What's happening with Capriles? He ended up submitting candidacies, which he claims are just "placeholders" in case electoral conditions are met. In other words, he's willing to participate but the decision to do so is, apparently, not final. He has called the election to 1. Be postponed due to COVID concerns, and 2. Feature an "electoral monitoring mission" (dunno exactly what it's called in English) from the UE. Both of these conditions have already been rejected, since Maduro himself said the elections will happen on the scheduled day and won't be postponed, and the UE rejected the electoral monitoring mission just yesterday.

There's also the issue of Capriles's party, Primero Justicia, which has been hilariously trying to dance its way around the Capriles dilemma. They released a statement after Capriles made clear his intention to participate, saying they did not support the "electoral farce" and would stick to Guaidó's plan, and said all party members who were to participate in the election would be out of the party. Here's the thing: since Capriles not also isn't 100% participating in the election as of today, and he also can't be a candidate since chavismo barred him from running for office, he technically hasn't broken the rules and PJ has stepped short of kicking him out of the party.

I would love to say this is because PJ is being spineless, but the truth is this may be because the party as a whole isn't completely on board with the top brass' position. Since Julio Borges and Tomás Guanipa, the biggest names in PJ outside of Capriles, hold "important" positions within Guaidó's interim government, they have made their intention to stick with Guaidó clear, but are curiously silent about Capriles. I've been told many inside the party are not happy with them following whatever Guaidó does, especially considering many of them probably don't approve of Guiadó at the moment. So my gut feeling (and don't consider this a fact) is that there is currently a big fight inside PJ about their current standing in the national scene, and the big wigs would like to avoid a complete schism, so they're trying to minimize the issue as much as possible, including ruling out kicking Capriles out of the party for the time being.

[Velasco]

What's happening with Capriles? He ended up submitting candidacies, which he claims are just "placeholders" in case electoral conditions are met. In other words, he's willing to participate but the decision to do so is, apparently, not final. He has called the election to 1. Be postponed due to COVID concerns, and 2. Feature an "electoral monitoring mission" (dunno exactly what it's called in English) from the UE. Both of these conditions have already been rejected, since Maduro himself said the elections will happen on the scheduled day and won't be postponed, and the UE rejected the electoral monitoring mission just yesterday.

I get from the news that the EU rejects the invitation of the Venezuelan government, claiming there's no time to send a "monitoring mission" if the election takes place on the scheduled date. Also, EU spokespersons claim they requested a "specific answer" to the government in mid August, concerning minimum prerequisites to send that mission.

On the other hand, Henrique Capriles was recently interviewed by El País and explained his reasons

https://elpais.com/internacional/2020-09-07/europa-tiene-una-oportunidad-historica-para-que-venezuela-recupere-la-democracia.html

[Skye]

Thought it was time to update this. Henrique Capriles has basically withdrawn from the event, given that his main goal was delaying the election and Maduro made it clear that wasn't going to happen. That means the main competitors to the PSUV are all minor parties who won't even participate in a coalition, so a PSUV landslide is to be expected. I personally expect they'll win with around 70% of the vote, turnout will be low of course.

Yesterday, the CNE unveiled their new voting machines (most of the old ones were burnt down in a fire months ago) with a rather... uh, flashy event:

https://twitter.com/Gbastidas/status/1314601708459302913

[CumbrianLefty]

Thought it was time to update this. Henrique Capriles has basically withdrawn from the event, given that his main goal was delaying the election and Maduro made it clear that wasn't going to happen. That means the main competitors to the PSUV are all minor parties who won't even participate in a coalition, so a PSUV landslide is to be expected. I personally expect they'll win with around 70% of the vote, turnout will be low of course.

Yesterday, the CNE unveiled their new voting machines (most of the old ones were burnt down in a fire months ago) with a rather... uh, flashy event:

A "suspicious" one?

[Skye]

Thought it was time to update this. Henrique Capriles has basically withdrawn from the event, given that his main goal was delaying the election and Maduro made it clear that wasn't going to happen. That means the main competitors to the PSUV are all minor parties who won't even participate in a coalition, so a PSUV landslide is to be expected. I personally expect they'll win with around 70% of the vote, turnout will be low of course.

Yesterday, the CNE unveiled their new voting machines (most of the old ones were burnt down in a fire months ago) with a rather... uh, flashy event:

A "suspicious" one?

Dunno. The first thing chavismo did after it happened was accuse the US of perpetrating the fire, because of course they did.

I do think it's possible (even likely) chavismo burnt them down, however, many of these types of things in Venezuela can be explained due to simple incompetence, so who knows.

[Samof94]

I’m surprised at how badly things have gone for the opposition lately. I’m pretty sure COVID isn’t helping.

[PSOL]

Well you got to hand it to the Chavistas for knowing how to read the room so as to divide the opposition

What exactly is the various parties opinions on social issues anyway?

[Skye]

Well you got to hand it to the Chavistas for knowing how to read the room so as to divide the opposition

What exactly is the various parties opinions on social issues anyway?

LMAO Maduro is a homophobe. He made an homophobic remark about Capriles when he was running for President a few years ago (He called him the equivalent of a "F*gg*t"). It's not that chavismo doesn't have support of LGBT voters or don't field LGBT candidates (As I understand, the chavista mayor of Caracas, Erika Farías, is a lesbian), but it's clear they

Anyways, the opposition is, in theory, in favor of gay marriage at least? It's not the first time I've said this in this forum, but policy and discussion on social issues have taken a back seat these years given that the opposition doesn't have real power. IIRC, the 4 major parties are "pro-LGBT" broadly speaking. The party that is probably the most supporting on the issue being Leopoldo Lopez's Voluntad Popular (they have the only transgendered deputy in the National Assembly, Tamara Adrián), and the most tepid support probably coming from Primero Justicia, which doesn't have a clear ideology anyways but has a few social conservatives inside the party. There was a controversy a few months ago, where VP sharply critizied PJ for voting down a (mostly symbolic?) pro-LGBT law (I don't exactly remember what it entailed) despite the fact that their Twitter account had just recently tweeted in support of LGBT population.

That said, Venezuela is still a very conservative country with regards to the issue. We're probably years behind most countries on LGBT laws and overall attitudes from the people in the country.

[Velasco]

Leopoldo López left the Spanish embassy in Caracas yesterday and now is in Madrid

https://twitter.com/el_pais/status/1320356274178039809?s=19

[Skye]

Leopoldo López left the Spanish embassy in Caracas yesterday and now is in Madrid

https://twitter.com/el_pais/status/1320356274178039809?s=19

I wonder what he does now. He's been really quiet ever since he left house arrest.

Anyways, my opinion of Leopoldo isn't exactly positive, but I'm glad he's out of Venezuela.

[Skye]

Sorry for the double post.

Yesterday, some dude named Pedro Sánchez, who's apparently the *checks tweet* Secretary General of the PSOE and probably doesn't hold any other important positions whatsoever, met with Leopoldo López at the party's headquarters at the Ferraz street in Madrid:

https://twitter.com/PSOE/status/1321113114679672832

[PSOL]

From the outside looking in, it feels like this is one ever expanding circus that PSUV barely has a lid on. From all the leadership changes to the parties shifting back and forth from boycotting and participation. No doubt they’re going to rig it enough to win, but it feels as if they are heading towards loss no matter what.

IDK, if any of y’all disagree that know more I urge you to correct me.

[Skye]

From the outside looking in, it feels like this is one ever expanding circus that PSUV barely has a lid on. From all the leadership changes to the parties shifting back and forth from boycotting and participation. No doubt they’re going to rig it enough to win, but it feels as if they are heading towards loss no matter what.

IDK, if any of y’all disagree that know more I urge you to correct me.

Dunno exactly what could point to a "loss". The communists breaking from the PSUV isn't nearly enough damage dealt when they have very few adversaries remaining. The PCV has never been big enough on it's own to achieve significant results outside some local races (they have broken a few times with the PSUV in the past in some local elections). The election is not competitive at the moment, and I doubt that will change. If anything, they could end up in the 60's instead of the 70's, but that's about it.

That said, I *have* read there are divisions inside the PSUV about how they are handling things. These divisions are never reported properly, instead we have people (ranging from journalists to pundits to politicians) leaving tea leaves on Twitter saying how "there are divisions inside the PSUV" but most of the time it's never clearly expressed what exactly is going on.

For now, a PSUV landslide is to be expected, what comes next is a mystery.

I should add, BTW, that the Guaidó government, or whatever you'd like to call it anyway, is preparing for a "Consulta Popular", which is basically an election (of sorts, online) on how things should be handled by the interim government going forward. I have honestly not paid too much attention to it. IMO, the Guaidó people are delusional if they think the people are going to care about it.

[Velasco]

Sorry for the double post.

Yesterday, some dude named Pedro Sánchez, who's apparently the *checks tweet* Secretary General of the PSOE and probably doesn't hold any other important positions whatsoever, met with Leopoldo López at the party's headquarters at the Ferraz street in Madrid:

Obviously there are diplomatic issues motivating that Sánchez welcomes López as PSOE leader and not as PM. The tweet also states the Sánchez party supports a political solution in Venezuela

It's ironic that Leopoldo López is coming to a country that, according to the right-wing opposition, is under a social-communist dictatorship modelled in the Bolivarian regime of Venezuela. Apparently some rich Venezuelans are buying residential property in the Salamanca neighbourhood of Madrid, which is beginning to be known as Little Caracas


https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2017-07-03/elite-venezuela-pisos-madrid-barrio-salamanca_1408503/

[Samof94]

Sorry for the double post.

Yesterday, some dude named Pedro Sánchez, who's apparently the *checks tweet* Secretary General of the PSOE and probably doesn't hold any other important positions whatsoever, met with Leopoldo López at the party's headquarters at the Ferraz street in Madrid:

Obviously there are diplomatic issues motivating that Sánchez welcomes López as PSOE leader and not as PM. The tweet also states the Sánchez party supports a political solution in Venezuela

It's ironic that Leopoldo López is coming to a country that, according to the right-wing opposition, is under a social-communist dictatorship modelled in the Bolivarian regime of Venezuela. Apparently some rich Venezuelans are buying residential property in the Salamanca neighbourhood of Madrid, which is beginning to be known as Little Caracas


https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2017-07-03/elite-venezuela-pisos-madrid-barrio-salamanca_1408503/

Madrid, Miami, Lima, and many other cities around the world have Exiles living there.

[Skye]

Sorry for the double post.

Yesterday, some dude named Pedro Sánchez, who's apparently the *checks tweet* Secretary General of the PSOE and probably doesn't hold any other important positions whatsoever, met with Leopoldo López at the party's headquarters at the Ferraz street in Madrid:

Obviously there are diplomatic issues motivating that Sánchez welcomes López as PSOE leader and not as PM. The tweet also states the Sánchez party supports a political solution in Venezuela

It's ironic that Leopoldo López is coming to a country that, according to the right-wing opposition, is under a social-communist dictatorship modelled in the Bolivarian regime of Venezuela. Apparently some rich Venezuelans are buying residential property in the Salamanca neighbourhood of Madrid, which is beginning to be known as Little Caracas


https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2017-07-03/elite-venezuela-pisos-madrid-barrio-salamanca_1408503/

Leopoldo is the leader of a party that is a member of the Socialist International, which I'm sure you can guess certain Spanish party at the government is also a member of. Well, it not only makes sense that he comes here because of that, after all, Spain should be our ally against Maduro, even if the Podemos people would love to ignore the issue.

Also, yes, the tale of wealthy Venezuelans buying property in Salamanca (and pretty much other upscale areas of Madrid) is a bit old. Also, like the article said, "enchufados" (that's what we call people who do corrupt business on behalf of the Maduro regime and get filthy rich because of it) are quite notorious among those. It's well known family members of high-ranking members of chavismo live abroad surrounded by the wealth. For example, the son of the Minister of Defense Vladimir Padrino López, lives in Madrid: https://www.abc.es/estilo/gente/abci-viven-noche-madrilena-hijos-chavismo-201901260318_noticia.html

[Velasco]

Madrid, Miami, Lima, and many other cities around the world have Exiles living there.

I know there are Venezuelan exiles everywhere, but I was referring specifically to rich Venezuelans (mostly exiles or opposition supporters, but some chavistas too) buying real estate In the most expensive neighbourhood of Madrid

date=1603908066 uid=11696]

Leopoldo is the leader of a party that is a member of the Socialist International, which I'm sure you can guess certain Spanish party at the government is also a member of. Well, it not only makes sense that he comes here because of that, after all, Spain should be our ally against Maduro, even if the Podemos people would love to ignore the issue.

The Spanish government is in a delicate position and needs to maintain a balance. As you know, Pedro Sánchez was one of the first European leaders recognizing Juan Guaido as interim president, but developments made neccessary to modulate the policy towards Venezuela. Neither Spain nor the EU recognize the Maduro regime, but they have to deal with it. Also, Spain plays a role in the relations with Latin America (due to historical and cultural reasons) that prevents the government to burn all the bridges with Venezuela. Leopoldo López has been refuged in the residence of the Spanish ambassador and now is in Madrid, so little doubt the Spanish government took care of him. Unidas Podemos does not play a role in the foreign policy if the Spanish government

The article from El Confidencial I linked highlights the presence of chavistas (let alone the ABC), but the key word is Venezuelan Elites. While the Maduro regime is remarkably corrupt, the Venezuelan governments that preceded the accession of Hugo Chavez were also lenient with corruption. Corruption and flight of capital are nothing new

[Skye]

The article from El Confidencial I linked highlights the presence of chavistas (let alone the ABC), but the key word is Venezuelan Elites. While the Maduro regime is remarkably corrupt, the Venezuelan governments that preceded the accession of Hugo Chavez were also lenient with corruption. Corruption and flight of capital are nothing new

Corruption is hardly anything new in the country, and like you said, not exclusive to one side. It's one thing that, sadly, isn't going to disappear overnight once chavismo goes away.

That's not to say any random wealthy Venezuelan businessman acquired his fortune through it (though a name mentioned in the article you linked, the Derwicks, certainly are corrupt as hell). But from the tone of your post, I just don't think you understand how unprecedented the corruption issue has been under chavismo, especially in these later years. It's a really stunning thing, nothing in the modern history of Venezuela compares. Not the corruption during the so called "Cuarta República". Especially infuriating is the corruption deals behind the "CLAPs", the Maduro regime's food boxes that the starving Venezuelan population rely on in order to eat and that have been used as forms of social control. If you have the time, a Venezuelan investigative journalism outlet called Armando Info has an entire section dedicated to articles of the issue: https://armando.info/Series/Details/24

[Velasco]

It's possible that corruption under Chávez and Maduro is more serious than I thought, but you have the precedent of Carlos Andres Pérez. The tenure of that Venezuelan president is regarded a paradigm of corruption and waste. Anyway the main question is not which is the most corrupt period, rather it's worrying that apparently nobody is willing to tackle the problem.  There must be a link between rampant corruption and gross inequality

[Skye]

It's possible that corruption under Chávez and Maduro is more serious than I thought, but you have the precedent of Carlos Andres Pérez. The tenure of that Venezuelan president is regarded a paradigm of corruption and waste. Anyway the main question is not which is the most corrupt period, rather it's worrying that apparently nobody is willing to tackle the problem.  There must be a link between rampant corruption and gross inequality

Yes, it's really worrying that corruption isn't handled more seriously. It's also one of the main reasons why I never bothered to become a member of any opposition political party. When it happens, everyone just turns a blind eye on it. But I guess that discussion will have to wait until chavismo is out of power and laws are able to be implemented effectively again.

With regards to Carlos Andrés, the way I understand it is that Congress (and, well, his own party too) wanted to get rid of him. Pinning corruption charges on was the easiest way to do it. Not that the charges weren't accurate, but they weren't exactly why he was ousted.

I get that "it's not about which is the most corrupt period", and I'm not trying to sound like I'm making excuses for corruption in the past, but the problem with that argument is that the corruption under chavismo has been enough to absolutely annihilate the country. "Mismanagement" is a word that has been thrown a lot to describe chavismo's practices, but is it really mismanagement when every chavista high ranking officer/businessman/military man's aim is just to steal however much they can?

[Velasco]

[
Yes, it's really worrying that corruption isn't handled more seriously. It's also one of the main reasons why I never bothered to become a member of any opposition political party. When it happens, everyone just turns a blind eye on it. But I guess that discussion will have to wait until chavismo is out of power and laws are able to be implemented effectively again.

I think it's a mistake to postpone that discussion. The root problems that undermine Venezuela won't be solved magically by a change of regime. I would argue that chavismo is the living proof of that. It's a matter of fact that nowadays chavismo is regarded a failed project, even by people that once supported it. However, I get the impression oposition parties and leaders have learnt nothing about the circumstances that favored the rise of chavismo. It's not only corruption, but the gross inequality associated to racism and classism. A smart opposition leader should be trying to address these issues and find a way to appeal the popular base that backed Chávez, the poorer half of the country and the people with a darker skin color.

On the first term of Carlos Andres Perez

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/26/carlos-andres-perez-obituary

fter serving as Betancourt's minister of the interior, Pérez's own turn in the presidency came after he won the December 1973 elections. The following year was marked by the birth of what became known as "Saudi Venezuela", as the global energy crisis took the price of crude oil – by far the country's biggest export – from $2 a barrel to $35 a barrel. Led by Pérez, Venezuela embarked on an orgy of costly mega-projects, alleged corruption and a grandiloquent foreign policy as the self-styled "leader of the third world". Despite unprecedented export earnings, however, the country in effect went bankrupt.

Pérez's successor, Luis Herrera Campins, declared that he had, "received a mortgaged nation". Capital flight was calculated at $35bn and the banks were pressing for repayment of a foreign debt almost as big, but whose precise size no one knew. Herrera Campins, and later Jaime Lusinchi, were forced to devalue the bolivar and renegotiate the debt, as the oil price steadily dropped (...) 

CAP and Hugo Chavez are very different, but they have in common the rise in oil prices during their presidencies

[Samof94]

It's possible that corruption under Chávez and Maduro is more serious than I thought, but you have the precedent of Carlos Andres Pérez. The tenure of that Venezuelan president is regarded a paradigm of corruption and waste. Anyway the main question is not which is the most corrupt period, rather it's worrying that apparently nobody is willing to tackle the problem.  There must be a link between rampant corruption and gross inequality

They are one of the most corrupt countries in the world up there with Afghanistan and North Korea.

[Skye]

Hi. This is happening on Sunday. Here's two short articles detailing the event:

https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2020/11/26/venezuelas-regime-will-win-the-legislative-election-by-a-lot?utm_campaign=editorial-social&utm_medium=social-organic&utm_source=twitter

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-04/why-venezuela-opposition-is-boycotting-congress-vote-quicktake

Guaidó is actually campaigning for his "Consulta Popular" thing, he actually went to my state (Carabobo) and held a rally in Valencia, my hometown, in a neighborhood not far from mine. I still think what he's campaigning for is useless and frankly demonstrates how aimless his interim presidency has become.