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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