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Weekly Report - 12 December 2013 (WR-13-49)

Maduro triumphs in municipal elections but opposition wins key battles

If the late former president Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) were still in power the results of Venezuela’s municipal elections on 8 December would have been considered a setback for the Bolivarian Revolution. The opposition Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD) won more municipalities than in the last elections in 2008; it won the main state capitals; it retained four of the five Caracas municipalities; and, in its most symbolic triumph, it took the capital of Barinas, the native state of Chávez. But, for President Nicolás Maduro, who has faced a battle for legitimacy since winning last April’s presidential elections, as well as acute economic difficulties, taking upwards of 200 municipalities constituted a noteworthy victory, albeit many of these were fairly small and rural. It consolidates his position going into 2014, a year which, for once, is free of elections.

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