In the parliamentary elections on Sunday 26 September, the PSUV [United Socialist Party of Venezuela] won a volume and distribution of votes that gave it a simple majority of deputies in the National Assembly.
The triumph of socialist candidates preserves the political continuity of the democratic process led by President Hugo Chavez, and shows that the bulk of the population prefers the anti-capitalist and socialist path.
But the results indicate a vunerability, given that the PSUV and its allies did not achieve the necessary two-third of assembly seats needed to have the absolute majority required to pass some laws.
The right wing, although a minority and far surpassed by the Bolivarian revolutionaries, managed to impose themselves with a considerable force in the parliament, increasing its ability to interfere with the revolutionary process and place obstacles in the path of the Chavez government.
This will also strengthen their capacity for conspiracies and make more difficult the challenge that the president and the revolutionary process will confront when the time comes for presidential elections in 2012.
According to the first official announcement by the National Electoral Council, issued at 2:20 am Venezuelan time, later than what was expected from the automated electoral system, but with the results being irreversible, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its allies won 95 of the 165 National Assembly seats, giving them a parliamentary majority, but not full control of the legislative body.
There were still 11 seats undetermined at the time of the announcement presented by the CNE.
The candidates of the PSUV and the National Indian Council of Venezuela (CONIVE) won 6 of 12 deputies to the Latin American Parliament, with one seat yet to be determined. As a result, the pro-imperialist right-wing will also have a significant weight in this space.
CNE president Tibisay Lucena informed that there was a historical level of participation in these elections, with 66.45% exercising their right to vote, out of a total of 17,575,975 eligible voters.
She pointed out the civic, democratic, peaceful and happy conduct of the Venezuelan people in a process that respected the rules and constitutional order in the country, shattering once again, the versions disseminated by the private media and transnational corporations, which seek to portray the Venezuelan government as "dictatorial."
Bolivarian socialist candidates won victories in Aragua, Barinas, Bolivar, Carabobo, Cojedes, Delta Amacuro, Distrito Capital, Falcon, Guarico, Merida, Monagas, Lara, Portuguesa, Trujillo, Vargas and Yaracuy, as well as equalling [the number of deputies won compared to the opposition] in Miranda and Sucre. The results of Apure state were still pending at the time of reporting.
The capitalist right-wing won at least 57 deputies. It won in states of great importance such as Zulia and Tachira. It also won in Nueva Esparta. The margin of victory achieved by the counterrevolution in Anzoátegui State, governed by a Chavista leader, was surprising. In Miranda, there was a tie.
Faced with an assembly with such features, the PSUV will have to more firmly base itself on the social force of the people, on the workers, peasants, movements, organised communities, and organizations of popular power.
The mobilisation of people and their real active participation through legislative initiatives and closer involvement in the design of the new laws will be essential to achieving revolutionary goals, faced with the right wing that will use their new positions to try to slow down and halt the Venezuelan revolutionary process.
The legislative people must make themselves felt. The class struggle will be reflected more intensely in the new National Assembly.
[Translated from Aporrea by Kiraz Janicke.]