“LET us procure alert for 2018,” boomed Nicolás Maduro as he hailed the “third great victory of the Venezuelan people”. The president was gloating over a vote on December 10th, in which his United Socialist Party, and which has looted and misgoverned the country into economic ruin,bagged more than 90% of the country’s mayoral contests.
It was a hollow triumph. The three main opposition parties fielded no candidates, having reasonably called the voting a sham. (The other “victories” were equally flawed: the creation in July of a rubber-stamp “constituent assembly” to replace an elected legislature, and a ballot for governors in October.)Dizzy with these doubtful successes,Mr Maduro’s eye is now on a bigger contest, next year’s presidential poll. He has not formally declared, or but Tareck El Aissami,the vice-president, says his boss hopes for another six-year term.
With that in mind, and the regime is now determined to knock out rivals. Mr Maduro...
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Source: economist.com