Guaido, opposition protest Venezuela’s national elections

Dec. 6 (UPI) — Venezuela is set to elect a new National Assembly on Sunday in a vote that could deal a blow to claims to power from opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is protesting the election.

Guaido and other critics have described Sunday’s vote as a ruse crafted by President Nicolas Maduro who would gain control over the last major opposition-held political institution in the country if his allies win a majority of the 277-seat National Assembly.

The United States and dozens of other nations have supported Guiado’s claim to the presidency based on his role as the current head of the National Assembly.

Guaido, however, will not appear on Sunday’s ballot as he and other opposition lawmakers will instead sponsor a weeklong referendum calling on Venezuelans to reject Maduro’s “usurpation of the presidency.”

“The best thing we can do is leave the voting center alone,” Guaido has said, asserting that participating in the election “will only benefit the regime and its accomplices.”

Guaido will no longer be a legislator after a new assembly is selected but he and his allies have said they will continue to claim to be Venezuela’s legitimate legislature.

Maduro has said he will resign if the opposition wins Sunday’s election but called for Venezuelans to cast votes for his allies.

“I call my people to the battle,” he said. “It’s been five years of [the opposition] saying they will destroy Maduro, asking for a military intervention and a war for Venezuela … We need to recover the National Assembly.”

Some opposition lawmakers who have chosen to run in Sunday’s election criticized Guaido’s decision to protest the vote.

“We can’t renounce the vote as a means of struggle and an instrument of change,” said candidate Armondo Amengual.

The election also comes amid near records in disapproval ratings for both Maduro at 82% and Guaido at 67% amid hunger, joblessness, gasoline shortages and lack of healthcare in the nation that have worsened amid the COVID-19 pandemic.