Maduro Survives First Test in Venezuela Municipal Vote
President Nicolas Maduro survived the first ballot box test of his rocky presidency Sunday, as candidates for his ruling Socialist coalition maintained control of most of Venezuela's municipalities.
The vote, seen as a referendum on Maduro's presidency amid soaring crime, high inflation and a floundering economy, confirmed the Socialists as the top political force of the land.
However Venezuela's center-right opposition, led by Henrique Capriles, held control of the two crown jewels -- the capital Caracas and the oil city of Maracaibo.
Maduro, the handpicked heir of the late leftist icon Hugo Chavez, was narrowly elected to office in April, one month after his popular predecessor died of cancer.
The ruling alliance won in 196 municipalities and opposition in 53, according to figures from the National Electoral Council (CNE).
Winners have yet to be chosen in 78 of Venezuela's 337 municipalities, the CNE said.
The opposition controls about 50 municipalities, but was hoping to double that in the election.
Maduro's Socialists won nearly 50 percent of the overall vote against 43 percent for the opposition, said CNE president Tibisay Lucerna, with nearly all of the polling stations reporting.
After voting in Caracas, Maduro called on citizens to "respect" the outcome as the "decision of the people."
"What the National Electoral Council says will be sacred," he told reporters. "I ask the victors to win with honor and respect of their adversaries and those who lose to accept defeat."
Capriles however alleged that the vote was marred by scores of problems at polling stations, including broken machines.
"There are many reports of abuses," Capriles said after casting his ballot at a Caracas school.
In several regions, thousands of government supporters formed lines as they waited to vote, while the opposition used social networks to make sure their supporters could get to polling stations.
The National Electoral Council estimated that more than 50 percent of Venezuelan voters cast ballots, the same proportion seen in recent years.
"We need to vote to inflict a defeat on the government because this country is in a hole," said Neida Pernia, a shopkeeper who voted in the affluent Caracas neighborhood of Chacao.
"Insecurity gnaws at us."
In the capital's 23rd of January neighborhood, voters hoped to keep Chavez's legacy alive.
"We have to win in order to pursue the revolutionary process," said 34-year-old Lenin Lopez. "Now is not the time to let the opposition gain ground."
Maduro, a former bus driver, leftist stalwart and cabinet minister, has tried to present himself as a man of action on the economy. But Venezuela, a country with the world's largest oil reserves, teeters on the verge of chaos.
In November, the National Assembly granted Maduro's request for power to rule by decree for one year in order to fight corruption and respond to what he has called an "economic war" unleashed by the opposition with US support.
He rolled out a series of measures to force price cuts, notably on household appliances and cars, and threatened speculators with prison.
Pre-election surveys indicated that Venezuela's middle class welcomed Maduro's populist show of force.
At a time when Venezuela has been experiencing months of record 54 percent inflation and is facing shortages on items as basic as toilet paper "a crazy paradox occurs: the one who is benefiting from the crisis is Maduro," pollster Luis Vicente Leon told Agence France Presse.
Source: Agence France Presse
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