Why Venezuela's Dec. 6 election is legitimate







By Sofia Perez



On December 6, Venezuela will hold parliamentary elections to choose new deputies for the National Assembly, the country’s legislature. With heightened U.S. attacks in Venezuela, including a tightening economic blockade, the elections are of great consequence to the future of the country.



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Right-wing parties supported by the U.S. government and its junior partners have made numerous attempts to overthrow the Bolivarian revolution. This includes delegitimizing the country’s core institutions of government and creating widespread chaos.



The MUD’s breakthrough at the National Assembly in 2015 put the right wing in a position to promote and support deadly riots in 2017 that took the lives of scores of supporters of the revolution as well as innocent bystanders. This violence often had a racist character. In one infamous example, Orlando Figuera, a young Black Venezuelan supporter of the government, died after being burned alive by a counter-revolutionary mob.



To reestablish order and give the revolutionary government a fresh mandate to move forward, President Maduro invoked Article 347 of the Venezuelan constitution to convene a body known as the National Constituent Assembly (ANC). The Constituent Assembly is a temporary, elected body with the power to modify or rewrite the country’s constitution. The ANC also holds superseding authority to pass laws while it is in session. The National Assembly at the time was being held in contempt of the Supreme Court after the opposition insisted on seating deputies whose elections were challenged because of vote-buying, so the ANC also served the purpose of giving the country a functioning legislative branch capable of dealing with its profound challenges.



The MUD boycotted the 2017 National Constituent Assembly elections. However, over eight million Venezuelans defied the violent boycott and turned out to vote. This show of support took the momentum out of the opposition riots, which soon fizzled out.



The country then entered a period where there were two competing legislative bodies -- the National Assembly representing the old elite backed by U.S. imperialism, and the Constituent Assembly representing the interests of the working class fighting to build socialism. The National Assembly would then go on to serve as the launch pad for the ludicrous declaration by failed coup leader Juan Guaidó that he, and not Maduro, was the country’s legitimate president.



The significance of this year’s election



The December 6 election has the potential to end this constitutional crisis provoked by the counter-revolution by retaking the National Assembly for the Bolivarian Revolution. It is being held In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and crippling economic sanctions imposed by the United States that has left the Venezuelan people in a profound economic crisis, particularly the most vulnerable working class sectors.



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