Venezuelan opposition ends boycott of elections to run for local elections | Venezuela News



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The opposition parties have announced that they will participate in the regional elections in order to strengthen the political legitimacy of President Maduro.

Venezuelan opposition parties have announced that they will participate in regional and municipal elections scheduled for November, reversing the trend of their previous boycotts in recent years.

Tuesday’s announcement came days before the opposition and President Nicolás Maduro’s government met in Mexico City to continue negotiations to find a common way out of the political deadlock in Venezuela. The two sides agreed to discuss electoral issues as part of the dialogue, which officially began earlier this month.

The agenda that Maduro and opposition representatives agreed for the negotiations includes election observers, a renunciation of violence, reparations for victims of violence, social and economic measures and the lifting of international sanctions. , which were imposed on the state oil company, government rulers and others.

Regional and municipal elections are scheduled for November 21.

Opposition parties grouped together in the so-called “Unitary Platform” and led by Juan Guaidó boycotted previous elections, including Maduro’s re-election as president in May 2018, arguing that Venezuela does not have the conditions for free and fair competition.

The group decided to participate in the next elections after “difficult internal deliberation”, motivated by the serious challenges facing the country and “the urgency to find permanent solutions”, according to a statement.

“Sovereignty has been re-imposed”

Millions of Venezuelans live in poverty amid low wages and high food prices resulting from the world’s worst rate of inflation and irregular dollarization of the economy. The United Nations food aid agency has estimated that one in three Venezuelans struggle to consume enough calories per day.

The country’s political, social and economic crises, attributed to falling oil prices and two decades of government mismanagement, have continued to worsen with the pandemic.

“We know that these elections will not be fair, conventional elections; the dictatorship has imposed serious obstacles that endanger the expression of change of the Venezuelan people, however, we understand that this will be a useful field of struggle “towards future presidential and legislative elections, according to the group’s statement.

After the announcement, Maduro said in televised remarks that “popular sovereignty had been re-imposed”.

“A cycle of political stability has been opened which should last at least until 2030,” he said. “Every vote that is seen is a commitment to dialogue, to peace, to reconciliation.”



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