From left to right, Caracas Mayor’s Carmen Menendez, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, who’s running to represent Caracas as a lawmaker for the National Assembly and also son of Venezuelan President Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro, first lady Cilia Flores and National Assembly Presiden Jorge Rodriguez attend a closing campaign rally for the regional election on May 25, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A poll worker instructs a voter during a rehearsal for the upcoming regional election, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
People hold up signs in support of Nicolas Maduro Guerra, the son of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is running to represent Caracas as a lawmaker for the National Assembly, ahead of upcoming regional elections in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Supporters react as they watach Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a closing campaign rally for the regional election on May 25, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A man holds a banner of Juan Requesens, a candidate for governor of Miranda state in the upcoming regional elections, in Los Teques, Miranda, Venezuela, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)
Venezuelans to vote for lawmakers and governors as opposition asks them to boycott election
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) 鈥 Venezuelan voters have been summoned to choose lawmakers, governors and other elected officials Sunday against a backdrop of heightened government repression. But many are weighing whether to heed opposition pleas to skip the polls and the ruling party鈥檚 calls to participate.
From left to right, Caracas Mayor’s Carmen Menendez, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, who’s running to represent Caracas as a lawmaker for the National Assembly and also son of Venezuelan President Venezuelan Nicolas Maduro, first lady Cilia Flores and National Assembly Presiden Jorge Rodriguez attend a closing campaign rally for the regional election on May 25, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) 鈥 Venezuelan voters have been summoned to choose lawmakers, governors and other elected officials Sunday against a backdrop of heightened government repression. But many are weighing whether to heed opposition pleas to skip the polls and the ruling party鈥檚 calls to participate.
The election will be the first to allow broad voter participation since last year鈥檚 presidential contest, which President Nicol谩s Maduro claimed to have won . It will take place two days after his government detained dozens of people, including a prominent opposition leader, and linked them to an alleged plot to hinder the vote.
Participation, in the eyes of the opposition, legitimizes Maduro鈥檚 claim to power and his government鈥檚 repressive apparatus, which after the July presidential election detained more than 2,000 people including protesters, poll workers, political activists and minors, to quash dissent. Meanwhile, the ruling party is already touting overwhelming victory across the country, just as it has done in previous regional elections regardless of opposition participation.
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A nationwide poll conducted between April 29 and May 4 by the Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed that only 15.9% of voters expressed a high probability of voting Sunday. Of those, 74.2% said they would vote for the candidates of the and its allies, while 13.8% said they would vote for contenders associated with two opposition leaders who are not boycotting the elections.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 absolutely despicable,鈥 opposition operative Humberto Villalobos said Saturday referring to the election participation of some opposition members. 鈥淲e鈥檙e facing the most brutal repression in recent years in the country. (The vote) is a comedy, a parody.鈥
Villalobos was elections division chief for when he and five other government opponents sought refuge in March 2024 at a diplomatic compound in Venezuela鈥檚 capital to avoid arrest. He spent more than a year there and on Saturday, along with four of the others, spoke publicly for the first time since they left the compound and arrived in the United States earlier this month.
, who met with the group Friday, has described their departure from the compound as an international rescue operation. That assertion has been challenged by Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who has said it was the result of a negotiation with the government.
The ruling party-loyal National Electoral Council will oversee Sunday鈥檚 election for state legislators, 285 members of the unicameral National Assembly and all 24 governors, including the newly created governorship , a region long under dispute between Venezuela and neighboring Guyana.
In Maduro鈥檚 Venezuela, Sunday鈥檚 results will have little impact on people鈥檚 lives because his highly centralized government controls practically everything from the capital, Caracas. The government also by, for instance, disqualifying a candidate after the election or appointing a ruling-party loyalist to oversee the elected offices held by opponents, rendering them powerless.
Further, after the opposition won control of the National Assembly in 2015, Maduro created an election for members of a Constituent Assembly in 2017. That body, controlled by the ruling party, decreed itself superior to all other branches of government until it ceased to exist in 2020.
