[20180524]IN10902_委内瑞拉2018年总统选举.pdf

CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Venezuelas 2018 Presidential Elections nae redacted Specialist in Latin American Affairs May 24, 2018 On May 20, 2018, Venezuela held presidential elections that were boycotted by the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition of opposition parties and dismissed as illegitimate by the United States, the European Union (EU), and 14 Western Hemisphere nations (the Lima Group). According to the official results, President Nicols Maduro of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won reelection for a second six-year term with 67.7% of the vote amidst relatively high abstention (46% of voters participated). Maduros main opponent, Henri Falcn, former governor of Lara state, rejected the results. The election triggered new U.S. sanctions. The Maduro government rejected those sanctions and expelled the top two U.S. diplomats in Caracas; the U.S. State Department responded reciprocally. Unfair Electoral Process Although many prominent Venezuelan opposition politicians had been imprisoned, barred from seeking office, or forced into exile by late 2017, some MUD leaders still sought to unseat Maduro through a