The municipal elections scheduled in Venezuela for late 2025 are already shaping up to be yet another episode of the authoritarian control exercised by Nicolás Maduro’s regime over the electoral system. Far from representing a genuine exercise of popular sovereignty, this process shows every sign of a structural fraud, where elections are used to simulate democratic normalcy and perpetuate the ruling party’s hold on power.
One of the main issues is the current state of the Electoral Registry. It remains deeply distorted by practices that favor the regime and exclude millions of citizens. Meanwhile, the mass and irregular transfer of voters to polling centers under PSUV control is not only permitted but actively encouraged—something that has been a constant in previous elections. The lack of independent audits, the opacity of data, and the National Electoral Council’s (CNE) refusal to implement structural corrections all point to a sustained pattern of institutional manipulation.
To this is added the judicial intervention in the main opposition parties. Organizations such as Acción Democrática, Primero Justicia, Voluntad Popular, and Copei have been stripped of their legitimate leadership by the Supreme Court (TSJ), which has imposed parallel directives aligned with the regime. This strategy not only seeks to divide and demoralize democratic forces but also to confuse voters, who now face opposition party logos that no longer represent their original leadership.
The comparison with the 2018 municipal elections is inevitable. That process was marked by extremely high abstention—over 70%—the exclusion of the genuine opposition, and near-total dominance of the PSUV in municipal positions. Today’s context shows few structural differences. This was also the case in the 2024 presidential elections, and the facts contradict any narrative of democratic progress. On the contrary, the CNE stooped to the lowest possible level of fraud: it hijacked and hid the votes. That election also featured disqualifications, censorship, abuse of state resources, and blatant advantage-taking. The lack of transparency and disregard for electoral law were obvious—even in the presence of international observers who later reported serious irregularities.
In this context, participation by democratic forces in the municipal elections poses a deeply complex dilemma. Should they participate in a system that lacks minimum guarantees? Or abstain and risk ceding complete local control to the regime while losing connection with grassroots communities?
Both choices come with costs. Abstention, while legitimate in a context of systemic fraud, has proven insufficient to bring about concrete change. On the other hand, participating without real conditions may end up reinforcing the legitimacy of a process rigged from the start.
In its authoritarian drift, Nicolás Maduro’s regime continues its process of consolidating totalitarian hegemony, exercising direct control over all branches of the state, and increasingly invading the personal lives of citizens through a growing repressive apparatus.
The 2025 municipal elections are just one more piece in the power structure designed to preserve the regime’s authoritarian and totalitarian control.
Given this situation, we issue a firm and urgent call to the international community: the normalization of Venezuela’s simulated electoral processes must stop. It is essential that democratic governments, multilateral organizations, and human rights defenders around the world intensify diplomatic pressure, demand real conditions for free and fair elections, and firmly support those who, from within the country, continue to resist under extremely adverse conditions. Indifference or ambiguity only serve to strengthen authoritarianism. Venezuela needs accompaniment, active vigilance, and effective solidarity so that, one day, the will of its citizens may once again hold true democratic value.