Venezuela's ruling party wins surprise victory in regional elections [View all]

[sandensea]

Candidates in Venezuela aligned with the movement founded by the late President Hugo Chávez have claimed most of the country's governorships, despite projections that the opposition would win. The results were likely to result in fresh unrest in the troubled nation.

Reporting from Caracas, NPR's Philip Reeves says: "Polls said Venezuela's opposition were going to be big winners in these elections. Instead, the ruling Socialist Party are now celebrating what Maduro calls 'a decisive victory,' after taking 17 of the country's 23 state governorships."

Opposition politicians are refusing to recognize the results of the poll, Philip reports.

"Maduro's critics want to know how his unpopular government secured this outcome amid an economic crisis that's produced chronic shortages of food and medicine and the collapse of the currency," he says.

The results were announced late Sunday by Tibisay Lucena, president of the National Election Council.

At: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/16/557977291/venezuelas-ruling-party-wins-surprise-victory-in-regional-elections