2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election

2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election
Venezuela
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All 167 seats in the National Assembly[1]
84 seats needed for a majority
Turnout74.04%
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
MUD Henry Ramos Allup 56.21 112 +47
GPPSB Diosdado Cabello 40.92 55 −43
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by constituency and party-list vote by state.
President of the NA before President of the NA
Diosdado Cabello
PSUV-GPPSB
Henry Ramos Allup[2]
AD-MUD

Parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela on 6 December 2015[3] to elect the 164 deputies and three indigenous representatives of the National Assembly. They were the fourth parliamentary elections to take place after the 1999 constitution, which abolished the bicameral system in favour of a unicameral parliament, and the first to take place after the death of President Hugo Chávez. Despite predictions from the opposition of a possible last-minute cancellation, the elections took place as scheduled, with the majority of polls showing the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) holding a wide lead over the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its wider alliance, the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP).

The political landscape leading up to the elections was heavily influenced by the severe economic crisis faced by the country, as well as a series of protests that took place in 2014, after which former Chacao mayor and leader of Popular Will, Leopoldo López, was detained and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The scarcity of basic goods and high inflation were the central topics of discussion, with each party blaming their opponent as the cause. Introducing economic policies to counter the crisis, as well as granting amnesty to political prisoners, was the main campaign pledge of the MUD. The ruling PSUV, on the other hand, ran a campaign focused on overcoming what they called an "economic war" led by the right-wing against the Venezuelan people, as well as defending the legacy of Chávez and the social policies introduced during his presidency.

The result was a decisive defeat for the PSUV, which lost control of the Assembly for the first time since 1999.[4] The MUD, composed of politicians opposed to the government of both Chávez and his successor, won 109 seats, and with the support of the three indigenous representatives, gained a supermajority of 112 seats against 55 won by the GPP. In terms of popular vote, the MUD received 7.7 million votes, an increase of 2.4 million from the 2010 elections, becoming the most voted party in Venezuelan electoral history. In comparison, the GPP only managed to gain an additional 200,000 votes, to total 5.6 million votes.

  1. ^ "CNE dio a conocer distribución de diputados a elegir en todo el país". El Universal. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  2. ^ "Henry Ramos Allup será el nuevo presidente de la AN". El Universal (in Spanish). Caracas. 3 January 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference bberg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference induk was invoked but never defined (see the help page).