Parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela on 6 December 2020. Aside from the 167 deputies of the National Assembly who are eligible to be re-elected, the new National Electoral Council president announced that the assembly would increase by 110 seats, for a total of 277 deputies to be elected.
The opposition parties that make up the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition agreed unanimously not to participate in the election, stating the reason as irregularities and their complaints during the planning of the process and arguing that it was likely the election would be fraudulent. Twenty-seven political parties signed the agreement, including the four largest opposition parties Popular Will, Justice First, Democratic Action and A New Era.
The opposition criticized the appointment of the members of the National Electoral Council by the Supreme Tribunal, stating that it is under the purview of the National Assembly, and at least seven political parties had their board of directors suspended or replaced by the pro-government Supreme Tribunal of Justice, including Popular Will, Justice First, Democratic Action, and Copei, as well as left-wing political parties, including Tupamaro, Fatherland for All, and Red Flag. Opposition politicians Henrique Capriles and Stalin González initially encouraged participation in the elections. They later withdrew and demanded better electoral conditions.
The Lima Group, the International Contact Group, the European Union and the United States rejected holding parliamentary elections in 2020, insisting in the necessity of holding elections "with free and fair conditions." The International Contact Group, headed by Uruguay, stated the formation of the Electoral Council "undermines the credibility of the next electoral process." The Organization of American States (OAS) stated the appointment of the Electoral Council was "illegal", rejecting it, and further stated that independent bodies are needed for "transparent, free and fair" elections to take place in the country. In July, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, headed by Michelle Bachelet, said that "the recent decisions of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice diminish the possibility to build conditions for democratic and credible electoral processes" and "appoint new National Electoral Council rectors without the consensus of all the political forces."
Background Since the 1999 Constituent Assembly elections, the National Assembly was dominated by alliances supportive of President Hugo Chávez. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, most opposition parties decided to withdraw, resulting in all seats being won by the Fifth Republic Movement and other parties supportive of Chávez. For the 2010 elections, an alliance of opposition parties was formed by the Democratic Unity Roundtable to contest the elections, and managed to win 64 seats. The PSUV, which was an alliance formed by Chávez from the Fifth Republic Movement and a number of smaller parties, won 96 seats, maintaining their majority, but lost their two-thirds and three-fifths supermajority. Fatherland for All, a small left-wing party, won two seats.
After Chávez's death in 2013, his hand-picked successor Maduro was narrowly elected president, continuing Chávez' ideological influence. In the 2015 parliamentary elections, the Democratic Unity Roundtable alliance 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. The result was a decisive defeat for the PSUV and its wider alliance (GPP), which lost control of the Assembly for the first time since 1999.
In the midst of the ongoing constitutional crisis, a different body, the Constituent Assembly, was elected in 2017, with the intent of re-writing the Venezuelan Constitution. From that point forward, the two legislatures have operated in parallel, with the National Assembly forming the primary opposition to president Nicolás Maduro, and with the Constituent Assembly being his primary supporters. As of May 2019, the Constituent Assembly mandate is expected to expire on 31 December 2020, a measure that replaces the previous resolution of August 2017 that established its validity for at least two years.
In February 2018, Nicolás Maduro proposed holding the parliamentary elections alongside the presidential elections scheduled between April and May of that year. However, the proposal was later rejected by the National Electoral Council, which stated that holding both elections together would be too complicated. A year later, Maduro announced support, which was proposed by the Constituent Assembly, for an early election within 2019. During a speech at a pro-government rally celebrating the 20th anniversary of the revolution led by former President Hugo Chávez, He stated: "They [the opposition] want to bring forward elections, let's have elections."
In November 2019, Juan Guaidó and Stalin González, along with former rector of the National Electoral Council, Vicente Díaz, declared that the election would not solve the nationwide crisis. Guaidó said that the opposition would not participate in any discussion that did not contribute to the solution of the crisis.
On 7 March 2020 there was a fire in the National Electoral Council warehouses in Filas de Mariche, Caracas. Tibisay Lucena, president of the Council, announced the loss of 582 computers, 49 408 voting machines, 400 electronic ballots, 22 434 power inverters, 49 323 fingerprint scanners and 127 ballots that were due to be withdrawn. Andrés Caleca, former rector of the Electoral Council, assured that hardware-wise the Electoral Council "was in zero", and that the electoral infrastructure, the machines and fingerprint scanners, as well as the operative capacity to program the machines were lost in the fire.
In mid-2020, the opposition politicians Henrique Capriles and Stalin González encouraged participation in the elections. As a response, Juan Guaidó created a "unitary pact" along with the leaders of thirty-seven political parties, reaffirming to not participate in the elections and to summon a referendum in Venezuela. After meeting with Guaidó, the leader of the political party Vente Venezuela, María Corina Machado, rejected the proposal of a referendum, criticizing the incapacity of Guaidó to depose Maduro from power and stressing the importance of a military option. Elliott Abrams, the United States Special Representative for Venezuela, described María Corina's proposal as "surrealist". Capriles and González later withdrew from the electoral process to pressure better electoral conditions.
In September 2020, Maduro announced that military officers would look after voters in their homes to vote as part as a "biosecurity plan", and rejected the possibility of postponing the elections.
Supreme Tribunal of Justice chooses new Electoral Council In October 2019, the National Assembly approved to start the appointment of the postulations committee of the new members of the National Electoral Council (CNE). In May 2020, the Committee of Electoral Candidacies, in charge of appointing a new National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE), announced that it would suspend its meetings because of the pandemic.
The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), loyal to Nicolás Maduro, declared in June that the National Assembly had not named rectors for the CNE. The opposition denounced it as attempt to obstruct the procedure for the elections.
The TSJ decided on 12 June 2020 to name the electoral board that would oversee the parliamentary elections. Indira Alfonzo was declared as the new chief of the CNE through Facebook. Members of the National Assembly argue that the TSJ is not authorized to choose the board, according to the Venezuelan constitution. The Vice-President of the National Assembly, Juan Pablo Guanipa, declared “As Venezuelans we make our demand to the world for a free vote!”, calling Maduro's government a dictatorship. Juan Guaidó posted on Twitter "We haven’t given up our rights. They’ve got the game locked up and they’ve already started hanging up their phones. Don’t be fooled by their distractions.” According to Associated Press, moderate opponents of Maduro administration, trying to reach an agreement to create free elections, found the TSJ decision "disheartening".
Luis Vicente León from the Venezuelan poll firm Datanálisis, said that the TSJ selected two members from outside the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, in order to give the appearance of balance, but that this ultimately does not change anything, as the TSJ acted unilaterally, outside any political negotiation. León said “This will not generate any confidence that the opposition parties participated or lead to mass participation in an election. It only adds a brushstroke of opposition participation to a biased elections commission, amplifying the country’s division without solving the problem.”
Suspension of political parties directives
On 27 August 2019, the Supreme Court of Justice suspended the board of directors of the Copei to appoint a board of directors chaired by Miguel Salazar. Previously, the National Social Christian Assembly elected Mercedes Malavé on March 27, 2019.
In May, Tarek William Saab, the Attorney General appointed by the National Constituent Assembly, requested that the Supreme Tribunal of Justice declare Popular Will as a "terrorist organization," which would lead to the prohibition of the party. Popular Will rejected said accusations.
On 15 June, the Supreme Tribunal suspended the directive board of Democratic Action to appoint a new one presided by José Bernabé Gutiérrez, days after his brother José Luis Gutiérrez was appointed by the high court as rector of the National Electoral Council. The former was expelled from the party the following day.
On 17 June, the Supreme Tribunal proceeded to take the same measure with the Justice First party and appointed an ad hoc directive board presided by José Brito, who would be responsible for the appointment of the rest of the positions of Justice First, as well as the regional, municipal and local authorities.
On 7 July, the Supreme Tribunal also suspended the directive board of Popular Will, becoming the third political organization judicially intervened in the last month, appointing an ad hoc directive board presided by José Gregorio Noriega, previously expelled from the party. The high court sentenced that Noriega "could use the electoral card, logo, symbols, emblems, colors and any other own concept" of the party and suspended the expulsions of both Noriega as Guillermo Luces and Lucila Pacheco, members of the new board.
On 20 July, the Supreme Tribunal suspended the directive board of Republican Movement and appointed an ad hoc directive board presided by Manuel Rivas. The ad hoc board of directors of the party may use the electoral card, logo, symbols, emblems, colors and any other concept of the party.
On 18 August, the Supreme Tribunal additionally intervened in the far-left party Tupamaro, giving the party directive to an ad hoc board to use the seats, name, electoral card, symbols and electoral emblems of the party. The intervention took place after the party announced an electoral alliance without the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). On 21 August, the Supreme Tribunal did the same with the left-wing party Fatherland for All, which also announced an electoral alliance without the PSUV; the high court also intervened in the Red Flag and Compromiso País parties, handing over the party to an ad hoc board.