Venezuela Schedules Congressional Elections for December

The electoral campaigns will kick off on Nov. 13 and must end by the night of Dec. 3, Tibisay Lucena said in a statement to reporters, after which she would take no questions.

The date of the elections has been the subject of much speculation over the past few weeks.

Setting a date for the elections was one of the chief demands of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez as he began a hunger strike 29 days ago that was taken up by a number of militants in his party.

“There was never a sign that an election would not be held this year,” the CNE president said, while complaining that the opposition nonetheless undertook an “enormous campaign to discredit” her institution.

The CNE has invited the Union of South American Nations, or Unasur, to send its electoral officials to Venezuela to observe the polling, she said.

The head of the CNE noted Venezuela’s impeccable voting system and called it “one of the most secure in the world.”

In that regard, Lucena recalled that Venezuelan electoral processes are submitted to audits before, after and even during the voting, “which makes it an ironclad system.”

The CNE organized and carried out last month the primary elections for the MUD opposition alliance to elect its candidates for the December legislative elections, and next Sunday will do the same for hopefuls of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, or PSUV, which now holds 99 seats in the National Assembly.