Venezuelan regional elections, 2017
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Regional elections were held in Venezuela on 15 October 2017 to elect the executive position of all 23 federal entities. This marked the first state executive election not held on the same date as elections for state legislatures, and the second separate from municipal elections. They were the 9th regional elections held in Venezuela since 1989. The two main participants were the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) opposition coalition and the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) alliance of the ruling
Bolivarian Bolivarianism is a mix of panhispanic, socialist and national- patriotic ideals named after Simón Bolívar, the 19th-century Venezuelan general and liberator from the Spanish monarchy then in abeyance, who led the struggle for independence th ...
government. The election resulted in a victory for the GPP, which won 18 out of the 23 governorships, while the MUD won the remaining five. Four Democratic Action opposition governors elected decided to be sworn in under the GPP government-led National Constituent Assembly despite promises to never recognize the body.


Irregularities


Delayed elections

Controversy arose surrounding on whether the election would be held or not since the National Electoral Council (CNE) had not determined a date only two months ahead of the expected election date in December 2016. Some believed that the delay was due to the belief that if elections were held, the ruling party, United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), would suffer one of its largest losses in over a decade. In July 2016, a possible election date of 11 December was discussed but never confirmed by authorities. , rector of the National Electoral Council (CNE), explained that the CNE has received complaints related to delays in the setting up of the polling stations and the arrival of their staff, as well as "technical problems with voting machines". On 18 October 2016, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE),
Tibisay Lucena Tibisay Lucena was the president of the National Electoral Council or CNE until 2020, one of the five branches of government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. She was first elected to this post in 2006, and was reelected in 2009 for the 2 ...
, stated that regional elections would not be held until mid-2017, stating the delay was due to a so-called "economic war" and low oil prices. Government sources stated that the true reason of the delay was hope that higher oil prices would raise the popularity of the PSUV. Lucena finally announced on 23 May 2017 that elections were to be held on 10 December 2017. However, during the 5th session of the
2017 Constituent Assembly of Venezuela The Constituent National Assembly ( es, Asamblea Nacional Constituyente; ANC) was a constituent assembly elected in 2017 to draft a new constitution for Venezuela. Its members were elected in a special 2017 election that was condemned by over fo ...
, it was later suggested to move the elections to October 2017. In September 2017, 15 October 2017 was selected as the date for regional elections.


Relocation of voting centers

denounced several irregularities throughout the campaign, which were also criticised by the opposition and governments such as Canada and the United States, and considered that the electoral body has taken several illegal measures aimed at demobilizing voters in areas identified as opposition strongholds. The Democratic Unity Roundtable issued a statement declaring: They claimed
Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the ...
and First Lady
Rosario Murillo Rosario María Murillo Zambrana (; born 22 June 1951) is a Nicaraguan politician and poet who has held the position of Vice President of Nicaragua, the country's second highest office, since January 2017 and First Lady of Nicaragua since 2007 ...
were allies of president
Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...
and that "both have now become in the principal advisors of Maduro in the organization of electoral frauds". In a statement, the MUD demanded the Executive Branch the immediate expulsion of Nicaraguan advisors and asked the Organization of American States (OAS) and the governments of the region to demand Nicaragua not to meddle in the internal affairs of Venezuela, saying that "we reject the participation of Nicaragua in any initiative related with the situation of Venezuela". Liliana Hernández, electoral coordinator of the MUD, denounced that the CNE did not allow international observers and did not accredit the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory for the accompaniment during the regional elections. The relocation happened in less than 72 hours of the election of more than 250 voting centers, many of which located in traditionally opposition zones. Due to the relocation of voting centers by the government, some middle class Venezuelans who usually support the opposition were forced to vote in poor communities filled with crime, deterring voter participation in some cases. Three days before elections, the Bolivarian government-led CNE changed hundreds of voting locations affecting over 700,000 voters in predominately opposition areas, publishing a table with the affected polling stations, with the Miranda and Mérida states being the most affected, with 232,428 and 129,520 voters, respectively. The CNE cited security reasons, though opposition members believe the move was to cause confusion and prevent voter participation.


Broadcasting

Rondón also criticized the state television network, Venezolana de Televisión, for transmitting pro-government messages which is forbidden by law, describing it as "regretful" that the very public network "is violating the electoral regulations".


Ineligible candidates

The CNE refused to remove MUD politicians who had lost primaries before the election from boards that voter would choose from. Venezuelans seeking to vote for an opposition candidate had the possibility of voting for an ineligible candidate out of confusion.


Election day

Although the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory declared that "there are incidents but these are more isolated than generalized", it reported several irregularities, including reports of absence of witnesses in voting centers, that the CNE web portal still had outdated data on the relocation of polling stations, that
Carlos Ocariz Carlos Eduardo Ocariz Guerra (born 1971, Caracas) is a Venezuelan politician and engineer. He was the mayor and former deputy of Sucre Municipality in east Caracas. Ocariz is a member of Justice First. On 22 February 2012, he announced he planne ...
, candidate for the Miranda state, postponed his right to vote because he was attacked, and that a polling stating located in , asked voters to pass by a "red point" of the United Socialist Party (PSUV) to verify their information after voting. During the elections there was refusal by the and board members for media to cover the process. In the Fermín Toro school of Valencia one of the electoral witnesses denounced that their credential was taken away by an official after taking photos of the center. Until the dawn, the System of Public Media transmitted electoral propaganda of the pro-government candidates, violating the electoral norm. In
Los Teques Los Teques ) is the capital of the state of Miranda and the municipality of Guaicaipuro Municipality. It is located in the capital region of north-central Venezuela. More specifically, southwest of Caracas, 10° 21' 00" N latitude and 67° 02' 3 ...
several electoral boards opened late and with accidental members (voters waiting in line and board witnesses). Daniel Ascanio, president of the Federation of Student Centers of the Simón Bolívar University, declared that government supporters took control of the largest polling stating in Guarenas to prevent voters to cast their ballot. Despite that at 10:00am
VST VST may refer to: * Vancouver School of Theology, a theological graduate school in British Columbia, Canada * VST, Stockholm Västerås Airport in Sweden (IATA airport code) * Vehicle safety technology * Virtual Studio Technology, Steinberg's stand ...
the MUD registered more than 620 irregular incidents, the opposition coalition assured that the complaints still represented a low percentage and they were being dealt with regionally to solve the problems. Minister of Defense Padrino López reported the commission of 26 alleged electoral crimes, and Foro Penal reported 15 related arrests, including one for taking a picture of the electoral ballot, among which most of the detainees were released. Election ink was not used like in previous elections. In several polling stations, power outages and failing voter machines led to longer than expected wait times for voters. Pro-government colectivos were seen riding motorcycles near voting centers in some cities; Eduardo Vale, a MUD councilor of
Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...
, denounced that with Molotov cocktails were thrown at one center. Journalists were reportedly assaulted in Trujillo and Zulia.


Results

The Democratic Unity Roundtable issued a statement setting a position and denouncing the several irregularities during the process, among which were: # An electoral population of at least 1,000,080 voters was prevented or hindered from voting in centers historically favorable to the opposition by damaged machines, boards that did not open or that had unjustified delays until late at night. # # More than 700 thousand Venezuelans who were migrated from their centers 48 hours before the election and even on the day of the election. # # An affected electoral population of at least 350,000 citizens affected by violence and intimidation inside and outside the electoral centers which prevented or hindered the free exercise of the vote. # # At least 90,537 null votes that should have been awarded to opposition candidates as a result of the impediment of replacing candidates already retired in fraud to the law. # # Coercion and blackmail of public employees and beneficiaries of social programs forcing them to vote with the accompaniment of PSUV leaders and through the
Carnet de la Patria The Homeland card (Spanish: ''Carnet de la patria'') is a Venezuelan identity document that includes a unique personalized QR code. It was created in 2016 by the Venezuelan government with the objective of knowing the socioeconomic status of the ...
, which prevents the exercise of a free vote. # # Voters that exercised multiple votes and disrespecting the principle "one elector one vote", facilitated by the absence of
indelible ink ''Indelible'' is the fourth book in the Grant County series by author Karin Slaughter. It was originally released in hardback in 2004. Previous books in the series are '' Blindsighted'', ''Kisscut'', and ''A Faint Cold Fear''. These books star Sar ...
for the first time in our history. # # Irregular extensions after the time of the legal closure. # # Obstruction of the audits of the citizen verification process, which impeded the verification of the consistency between the votes cast and the results transmitted. # # Numeric inconsistency of historic electoral results as well as with all the studies, polls and exit polls carried out. The National Electoral Council published results for Bolívar on its website confirming the victory of the opposition candidate, then deleted them hours later. The opposition candidate to the Bolívar state governorship,
Andrés Velásquez Andrés Velásquez is a Venezuelan politician of the Radical Cause (''La Causa Radical'') party. Formerly the general secretary of the steelworkers union of SIDOR, he became one of the leaders of Radical Cause after the death of its founder, Alf ...
, announced before the CNE counted the voters that the results that showed him as the winner were "irreversible", declaring having 100% of the ballots, pointing out that the CNE did not count them to try to revert the obtained advantage and assuring that until the moment he had 50.42% of the adjudicated votes, while the Socialist Party had 49.58%, 268,361 votes. On 18 October, Velásquez denounced the appointment of candidate
Justo Noguera Pietri Justo Noguera Pietri (born 15 March 1961) is a Venezuelan politician who served as the Governor of Bolívar. He was appointed as State Governor by the National Electoral Council and served from October 2017 to November 2021. Early life and e ...
to the governorship as "fraud", claiming the existence of invalid ballots. The same day, parliamentarian Enrique Márquez showed comparisons of the voting records from several voting boards with the results shown by the CNE, in which they subtracted votes from Andrés Velásquez and added votes to Justo Noguera Pietri, including a board showing a participation percentage of 96.67%. In the evening, spokesman for the MUD Ramon Guillermo Aveledo stated that opposition candidates elected into office would not subordinate to the Constituent National Assembly, saying "The Constitution is in force and says that the governor is sworn in before the Legislative Council". Minutes before Tibisay Lucena announced preliminary results, the MUD advised voters that the CNE had different results than the ones calculated by observers. The opposition candidate Carlos Ocariz declared that he would not recognize Héctor Rodríguez, his rival candidate, as governor of Miranda. As part of the complaints made by the opposition candidate, he explained that for example in 403 centers out of 1118 "we could not connect with the witnesses because they shut down the telephone lines". He described having "all the acts and we are reviewing them. But it is not a matter only of acts " since "in many voting centers they took our witnesses by force". He explained that "the substitutions that are our right and are established in the constitution were not allowed illegally. With 48 hours left for the boards to be installed the CNE unscrupulously and illegally made a move and changed the voting centers to 225 thousand Mirandinos". He also explained that they did a re-engineering with the centers relocation and that "it affected the results remarkably". He added that the persons that were mobilized in buses to the relocated centers were assaulted and beaten, and that violence was used as a tool to prevent the vote. "We saw the massification of the multiple vote as there was no
indelible ink ''Indelible'' is the fourth book in the Grant County series by author Karin Slaughter. It was originally released in hardback in 2004. Previous books in the series are '' Blindsighted'', ''Kisscut'', and ''A Faint Cold Fear''. These books star Sar ...
", adding that Venezuela currently faces "an absolutely fraudulent system". "There are numerical inconsistencies between the polls and the election results."


Public opinion

;Graphical summary Poll results are listed in the tables below in chronological order and using the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. If such date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour.


Results


Preliminary

According to Lucena, the MUD opposition coalition had only won 5 of 22 governorships in Venezuela – Anzoátegui, Mérida, Nueva Esparta, Táchira and Zulia – in what she called "irreversible results", while the GPP alliance of the Bolivarian government had won the remaining 17. There was no word on the results of the final state, Bolívar.


Final results


Aftermath

Following the elections where the opposition only won five of twenty-three governorships, disillusionment with the opposition movement grew, especially after four of five opposition governors elected belonging to Democratic Action decided to be sworn in under the Bolivarian government-led National Constituent Assembly despite promises to never recognize the body.


Reactions


Governments and supranational organisations

* The governments of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
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,
Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
,
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
,
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru asked for an "independent audit" of the regional elections "in the face of the diverse obstacles, acts of intimidation, manipulation and irregularities that characterized the elections", with the order to clarify the controversy generated about the elections. * : Federica Mogherini,
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP) is the chief co-ordinator and representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) within the European Union (EU). The position is currently held b ...
, was shown surprised by the results and expressed that "what really happened will have to be investigated". The president of the European Parliament,
Antonio Tajani Antonio Tajani (; born 4 August 1953) is an Italian politician, journalist and former Italian Air Force officer, who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 22 October 2022. He served as President of the ...
, pressured 28 foreign ministers to adopt sanctions against members of the Venezuelan government. * : President Evo Morales said "Congratulations Venezuela, for democracy won over intervention and conspiracy. The people defend their sovereignty, dignity and natural resources" * : President Raul Castro stated that Venezuela has given a "big lesson on peace, democratic vocation, courage and dignity" * : The government of Canada condemned the relocation of voting centers saying it "prevents free and fair elections" and gives an advantage to the Bolivarian government. * Israel: Before the elections, the spokesperson of the Israeli foreign ministry, Emmanuel Nahshon, issued a statement declaring that "Israel demands the Venezuelan government to allow the Venezuelan opposition to compete for their positions with freedom", to "protect the constitutional right of its citizens to vote and to guarantee that the regional elections are carried out in a free and transparent way respecting the prerogative of Venezuelans to design the model of country they want". * : The United States Department of State assured that the regional elections were not "free" not "fair", and warned to continue pressuring "economically and diplomatically" the
Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...
government to "restore the democracy" in the country. Heather Nauert,
State Department Spokesperson The Spokesperson for the United States Department of State is a U.S. government official whose primary responsibility is to serve as the spokesperson for the United States Department of State and the U.S. government's foreign policies. The posit ...
, issued a statement saying that "We condemn the lack of free and fair elections yesterday in Venezuela. The voice of the Venezuelan people wasn't heard."


Domestic

* Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD): , the head of the MUD campaign command, dismissed the results and reaffirmed the distrust of the results offered by the National Electoral Council. * Venebarómetro: Edgar Gutiérrez, director of the pollster Venebarómetro, declared that "the results are absolutely inconsistent with all the polls that showed a chavismo in a frank minority". * President Maduro responded to accusations of election fraud by saying that the election was "the most audited and secure in the world" and that "nobody can commit fraud". * Henri Falcón and , opposition candidates for the Lara and Carabobo states respectively, broke with the opposition coalition's official position conceding defeat in the elections; while denouncing irregularities in the process, they also regretted the abstention of many voters.


References

{{Venezuelan elections 2017 elections in South America 2017 in Venezuela October 2017 events in South America
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...