CARACAS, Venezuela — Government opponents surged to a rare victory here on Sunday in key congressional elections framed by the country’s deep economic crisis, claiming a legislative majority for the first time in years and handing a significant setback to the heirs of former President Hugo Chávez and his socialist-inspired movement.

 

The victory significantly alters the political balance in this deeply divided country and augurs a power struggle between the long-marginalized opposition and the government of President Nicolás Maduro, the successor and disciple of Mr. Chávez.

 

Tibisay Lucena, the head of the electoral commission, announced about 12:30 a.m. Monday that the opposition, represented by the Democratic Unity coalition, had won 99 seats and that the government’s United Socialist Party had won 46 seats. She said final results were not in for 22 seats.

 

“Change has started today in Venezuela,” said Jesús Torrealba, the head of the Democratic Unity coalition.

 

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As word filtered out that the opposition coalition, which includes a range of parties, had won a majority of seats, activists at the group’s election-night headquarters in a Caracas hotel smiled broadly and exchanged high-fives.

 

 

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 00:28

Venezuela’s President Concedes Defeat

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Venezuela’s President Concedes Defeat

In a television broadcast on Sunday night, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela acknowledged defeat in national legislative elections. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date December 7, 2015. Photo by Presidencia/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. Watch in Times Video »

“We are entering a period of transition,” said Henry Ramos, an opposition leader who predicted that the coalition had received as many as 113 seats in the 167-member National Assembly. “The government is very weak.”

 

He predicted that Mr. Maduro would not reach the end of his term in 2019 and that he would be removed by “constitutional means,” such as a recall referendum, a change to the Constitution, or by being forced to resign.

 

Before the results were announced, a stage that had been set up in central Caracas for a government party celebration was taken down.

 

“We have come with our morality and our ethics to recognize these adverse results, to accept them and to tell our Venezuela, ‘The Constitution and democracy have triumphed,’ ” Mr. Maduro said, appearing on television immediately after Ms. Lucena announced the outcome of the election.

 

But he stopped far short of accepting responsibility for the electoral debacle, laying blame for the loss on what he calls an economic war that he says is being waged against the country by shadowy capitalist forces, rather than on his own economic policies.

 

“In Venezuela the opposition has not won,” he said. “For now, a counterrevolution that is at our doorstep has won.”

 

The election took place 17 years to the day after Mr. Chávez was first elected president — and for virtually all of that time, Mr. Chávez, his allies or his political heirs controlled the National Assembly.

 

Mr. Maduro was elected in 2013 after Mr. Chávez died. He has vowed to continue the socialist-inspired policies of his mentor, Mr. Chávez, and has struggled to address triple-digit inflation, a two-year recession and other economic challenges. Venezuela depends heavily on income from oil production, and the sharp drop in petroleum prices has starved the government of money.

 

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At many polling sites in Caracas, voters showed up as early as 5 a.m. on Sunday. While opposition activists reported some irregularities — including confrontations between supporters of different parties and scattered delays caused by malfunctioning digital voting devices — voting in general appeared to take place in an atmosphere of calm.

 

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RECENT COMMENTS

 

Ted Peters 18 minutes ago

The left is losing elections all over Latin America. The issue now is whether those who will assume power will use this for the common good...

Miguel 18 minutes ago

Free Leopoldo now. The Pro Revolution supporters here would rather have their fellow Venezuelans live in Misery than perhaps try a market...

Chicago1 18 minutes ago

People who are still supporting the socialist government in Venezuela need to ask themselves, how is it that long-impoverished, currently...

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“I always used to support the government, but not anymore,” said Gabriela León, 37, after casting her ballot in a hilltop slum long known as a pro-government bastion. “I feel let down.”

 

She said that she was fed up with rising prices, long lines to buy food and other necessities and rampant crime. “I want my kids to grow up in a safe place, in a pretty country,” she said.

 

Mr. Maduro tried to cast the election in terms of left versus right, good versus evil, loyalty to Mr. Chávez’s legacy versus betrayal. But for many it had less to do with questions of ideology and more to do with exasperation over a catastrophic economy and a government mired in indecision and corruption.

 

Mr. Maduro said before the vote that an opposition victory would be a nightmare and that he would take to the streets in rebellion in that case — an unusual suggestion by a sitting president who still controls most levers of power. The government entered the balloting carrying a heavy burden amid two years of recession expected to represent a shrinking of economic production of about 15 percent.

 

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Many voters said that they did not know the names of the opposition candidates they were voting for, nor did they care — they planned to press the symbol of the opposition Democratic Unity coalition on the touch-screen ballot, a potent, anyone-but-these-guys rejection of the governing United Socialist Party.

 

José Hernández, an administrator in a government ministry, had a hard time coming up with the name of the opposition candidate he planned to vote for, saying in the end that he would simply look for the thumbs-up symbol of the opposition coalition.

 

“I’m voting for the party, for change,” he said, referring to the unity coalition. Mr. Hernández said that he had always voted for Mr. Chávez’s movement. But now, he said, “They’ve had so much time in power it’s time to bring in someone else.”

 

NY Times