By NAN Contributor
News Americas, CARACAS, Venezuela, Tues. Dec. 8, 2015: The opposition coalition party in Venezuela will control the National Assembly and set the way forward for policies, according to the latest preliminary election results from Sunday’s voting.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) released the preliminary but “irreversible” results of the country’s National Assembly elections in the early hours of Monday morning.
The Roundtable of Democratic Unity (MUD) swept to victory with 99 seats compared to the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) 46 seats. Twenty-two seats were still unreported in the167 Assembly.
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 and reform the Constitution. They can also call a referendum on Maduro’s future but this could only take place only when his presidency reaches its halfway point in April next year.
It was the most debilitating defeat for the ruling Chavista government since it came to power in 1999.
President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and leader of the PSUV, Nicolas Maduro, says he has accepted the results.
Venezuela currently has seen a negative 10% Shrinking Of its GDP In 2015 and a 18.1% unemployment rate.
And with many Caribbean nations set to begin repayments of the millions in Petrocaribe loan To Venezuela, it’s a safe bet that country’s parliament will be looking to make good on its debt collections.
Maduro has blamed the situation on an “economic war” waged by the opposition.
The next Presidential Election in Venezuela is due in April 2019.
