CARACAS- The Venezuelan opposition recovered this Tuesday, three years after it was banned, a coalition card with which it won the 2015 legislative elections by a large majority, the electoral authority reported ahead of the November regional elections.
The Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) was born in 2008 as an opposition alliance that brought together some thirty organizations and that in 2012 registered as a party to present itself to the 2015 legislative elections, in which Chavismo lost Congress for the first time in 15 years.
The MUD appears in a list of “eight national organizations that today we have approved their denominations to participate and give effect to their participation in the next elections” of mayors and governors, on November 21, announced the president of the National Council Electoral (CNE), Pedro Calzadilla.
The MUD won 112 of 167 seats in the National Assembly, making it the card with the most votes in the country’s history.
Prior to the 2018 presidential elections, the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) —of the ruling party— ordered its exclusion, arguing that it was not a party but an alliance.
The opposition finally boycotted those votes, which it described as fraudulent, and ignored the reelection of Nicolás Maduro.
She also refused to present candidates for the 2020 parliamentarians, also denouncing a lack of conditions.
The ignorance of the 2018 elections gave rise to the opposition leader Juan Guaidó to claim the presidency in charge of Venezuela in his capacity as head of Parliament, with the support of the United States and several countries of the European Union. Maduro, however, maintained control of power.
Guaidó plans to pronounce this Wednesday on the authorization of the MUD card, with which he was elected deputy in 2015.
The CNE’s decision comes when Venezuela is pressured to guarantee “credible” elections through a negotiation between Maduro and his adversaries, in which the lifting of international sanctions that have exacerbated the economic crisis that has led the country to going through its eighth year of recession.
The United States, the European Union and Canada last week congratulated “the substantive and credible advances to restore democratic processes and institutions,” such as the appointment of a new electoral authority with the presence of opponents, although Chavismo is still in the majority, and they showed ” willing to review sanctions policies. “
Maduro assured that he will respect the victories of the opposition in the regional elections, promising to eliminate the figure of the “protector” that he himself created in the regions in which the opposition had won governorships or mayors to take away powers and hand them over to members of the ruling United Socialist Party. of Venezuela (PSUV).
