(Bloomberg) — Venezuela said it will hold regional and parliamentary elections in April, potentially splitting the opposition over whether to boycott the vote.
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The electoral authority said Venezuelans will choose nearly 300 lawmakers and at least 23 governors on April 27.
The most prominent opposition leader, María Corina Machado, this month called on her followers not to participate after President Nicolás Maduro began a third six-year term after an election that was widely regarded as fraudulent.
Maduro is trying to rush these elections “in an attempt to make people forget his defeat in the 2024 presidential election and to obtain some kind of legitimacy for the regime,” said Jesús Castellanos, a political scientist and former Venezuela electoral authority official now based in Chile.
Pressure has mounted on Maduro, who has ramped up repression of his opponents, causing widespread global condemnation and fresh sanctions. He has even lost support from formerly friendly governments in Colombia and Brazil, whose leaders demanded that the government release proof of his election win and declined to attend his inauguration earlier this month.
The April vote could potentially divide the opposition, which Machado managed to unite ahead of the presidential election held in July. While her call marks a return to her usual strategy of seeking to influence elections by encouraging widespread boycotts, other opposition parties submitted proposals on potential elections dates to the electoral authority, signaling differing strategies.
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