While opposition congresses play a crucial role in ensuring checks and balances in Latin American democracies, the complexities they introduce are far-reaching and multifaceted. These challenges underscore the need for mature political behavior, open dialogue, and a steadfast commitment to democratic norms from all political actors.
In recent elections across the world, incumbent candidates have faced an uphill battle. Ecuadoreans might buck the trend in the upcoming election of February 19. Yet, if there are lessons to be learned from recent upsets, the last weeks of a campaign is when surprises begin to pop up.
President-elect Trump’s call from Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen may provide a model for what he could do for Venezuela. With all the democratic options closed in Venezuela until 2018, maybe it’s time Henry Ramos Allup picked up the phone.
The international community is trying to encourage the Venezuelan government and the opposition to sit down to a dialogue. But democratic dialogue requires commitment to principles, and the government has never shown—nor is showing now—any willingness to commit to those values.
The new majority in the National Assembly has failed in offering economic alternatives and in confronting Venezuela’s political crisis. Despite being a lousy opposition, though, they are still important.
Según Consejal Jesus Armas, “Ya no es una lucha entre gobierno y oposición, sino que, se ha convertido en una lucha entre el pueblo y un gobierno que nos ha empobrecido.”
The December 6, 2015 elections brought positive change for Venezuela, but this is only the beginning in a long process that is likely to be complicated and in which a positive outcome is far from guaranteed.
Any numerical representation of people has institutional and moral consequences. This is especially so in Venezuela where Chavistas consistently had a monopoly on being the majority and used it to discount opposition as los escualidos (the few, rotten elites), a characterization that is now less credible with the recent elections.
If the absence of protests or conflict on an election day is an indicator of success, then the success of the Union of South American Nations’ (UNASUR’s) election “accompaniment” of Venezuela’s December 6th legislative elections was smashing.
For the first time in the 17 years since the late Hugo Chávez swept into power, the opposition has firm control of one of the branches of government. This proved too much for the chavista legislators to handle, and their walkout foreshadows the tensions ahead.
