Controversy in Venezuela over the repetition of elections in one state

The controversy does not cease in relation to the order of repeat the elections on the Venezuelan region of Barinas. The governor of the state, Argenis Chavez, brother of the late president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, has scrapped your candidacy to reelection for elections next January 9th, which will be repeated by order of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). This organism annulled the votes of the past 21 of November in the region that gave the victory to the opposition Freddy Superlano.

In a press conference, Chávez explained that retires from office What governor and pass the witness to Jesus Monsalve, Secretary General of the Interior, who will lead the state until, at least, the repetition of the elections. “I have decided to separate from the post, an irrevocable resignation, and the Secretary General of the Government, Commissioner Jesús Monsalve, has assumed the post,” said Argenis Chávez.

Voting will be done without the principal candidate opponent, Freddy Superlano, because the TSJ said he is disabled by judicial processes against him. Superlano asked that his victory be made official in this region of 970,000 inhabitants, where the Chávez family has ruled since 1998. Barinas is the only state that did not present results for the office of governor, which triggered small opposition demonstrations.

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won 19 out of 23 governorates in a process in which the bulk of the opposition returned to the polls after refusing to participate in the 2018 elections, in which President Nicolás Maduro was reelected.

A bastion for Chavismo

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The National Electoral Council (CNE) has formalized the call for new elections, in which register candidatures between December 2 and 6. In the ruling published on its website, the Supreme Court, accused by the opposition of favoring the Government, acknowledges that the “projections recorded by the CNE” gave Superlane 37.60% of the votes already cast Argenis Chávez 37.21%, but stressed that the opponent was “ineligible” due to administrative and criminal investigations.

Relatives of the former president they have hoarded for more than two decades the government of Barinas. Starting with his father, Hugo de los Reyes Chávez, governor from 1998 to 2008; he continued with his brother Adán, current Venezuelan ambassador to Cuba, between 2008 and 2016; and continued with Argenis, since 2017.