On Sunday, the Venezuelan opposition won the plain state of Barinas, which is a stronghold of the ruling party because it is the original region of former President Hugo Chavez Frías, and ruled by his father and two of his brothers for the past 23 years, he reported. Voice of America VOA.
Sergio Garrido, the united platform candidate facing Chavismo, at the Democratic Unity table ticket, has won the governor’s office, according to official results.
“The Barinas arose and from Barinas, for the whole of Venezuela, it will be a torch of faith, hope and democracy. Small victories like Barinas victories will be big tomorrow (…) with elections, with voting, which is the only weapon we democrats have,” said Garrido, after learning the results. .
“We are showing that by uniting and by the strength of each and every one of you we can achieve this,” he said.
The National Electoral Council published the official results just before midnight, confirming the opposition’s victory: Sergio Garrido, of the “Democratic Unity Table”, received 172.796 votes, ie 55.37% of the voters who participated. Jorge Ariza, of Chavismo, received 128,751 votes, to 41.26%. Claudio Fermin, of Alianza Democratica, won 5,538 ballot papers in his favour, 1.77%.
“This victory is for God and for the noble people of Barinas (…) as soon as Mr. Ariza admits his defeat (he has already done so), we can also declare that the people of Barneys have won, the democratic force, the Barenian opposition won,” said Garrido, the elected governor, at a press conference. It was broadcast shortly after 10 pm.
Garrido celebrated that Sunday’s vote took place “in peace and quiet” and thanked the national armed forces for their behavior “at an institutional level” during the electoral process. He said he overcame “obstacles” and “adversities” in his campaign to achieve his victory.
Jorge Arreaza, former foreign minister in Nicolás Maduro’s government, former minister of Chavez and candidate of the Venezuelan United Socialist Party, conceded his defeat on social networks before the electoral authority published the results.
“The information we receive from our (sic) SUP structures indicates that although we increased the vote, we did not achieve the goal. I heartily thank our heroic struggle. We will continue to protect the people of Barenyuz from all places,” the applicant wrote on Twitter .
At least 607,000 people from Barcelona were invited to vote to choose their governor, after the judiciary ordered the re-election of November 21. He then defeated opposition candidate Freddy Soberlano, re-election candidate and brother of former President Chavez Asderbal Chavez.
A Supreme Court ruling indicated that Superlano had been disqualified by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic due to complaints that had not yet been formally referred. His margin of victory was slim, just 0.39%, from just under 200 votes.
But the November winner backed Garrido during the election campaign, who took over the opposition nomination after the National Electoral Council’s nomination system prevented other candidates from being registered for office by the Democratic Unity Table, among them Soberlano’s wife.
Juan GuaidóAn opposition leader who has been recognized by 50 governments in the world as the president in charge of Venezuela since January 2019, estimated on his official Twitter account that Barinas is an “example of struggle and resistance”.
“Where it begins, it ends,” Guaido wrote, referring to how the Yanera region is the birthplace of Chavismo. “United we will defend the will of the strong majority that will not surrender and will not surrender until we see democracy in Venezuela again,” the opposition leader added.
Before Ariza conceded his defeat, President Nicolás Maduro assured that Barinas would “certify the path of democracy” and predicted an official victory “with the immortal spirit of Commander Chavez.”
Other political leaders of the opposition, such as Luis Florido, have highlighted how the Venezuelan ruling party has been defeated despite focusing its efforts on achieving victory in a country that is key in its political origins.
They brought the PSUV employees, the governors, the buses, and the royal couple, an advantage, but they could not against the people of Barinas who expressed themselves and overcame the tyranny. Let’s see the future.”
The opposition criticized the national government, first, for ordering a rerun of the November elections, and later for using resources and institutional power in favor of the promadorista candidate.
Pablo Andrés Quintero, political scientist, commented on The Voice of America That the election campaign in Barinas was “extremely atypical” because of the support of the entire national political leadership for its candidates in one country, and also because it was a vote that took place less than two months ago.
He stressed that Claudio Fermin, the former presidential candidate who also wanted to win the governorship of Barinas on Sunday, was not “too strategic” by being involved as an independent candidate, rather than adding his scarce political capital in favor of the unified platform that, in the end, triumphed.
Quintero stressed that Chavez’s candidate, despite being an adviser, had shown himself to be “uninfluential” and “not charismatic enough” to win in Barinas.
Luis Vicente Leon of Datanálisis considered the big losers on Sunday in Barinas are Chavismo and Abstain.
It was not worth populism, official mobilization, military displacement, institutional control, or fierce attacks against those who wanted to vote. More than half of Barcelona’s population voted to kill several birds with one stone.
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