CNBC quotes Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center Deputy Director Jason Marczak on the divide in votes between Venezuals’s current government and the oppositon:
Still, “support [for the opposition] would not necessarily translate into the number of seats won by the opposition,” said Jason Marczak, deputy director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank.
Maduro’s party has been able to gerrymander the districts so that the ones where it’s strongest hold the most seats, Marczak said. Nonetheless, the coming elections will serve not just as a gauge of Maduro’s popularity, but also his ability to continue Hugo Chavez’s legacy, Moya-Ocampos said.
“If he doesn’t show he has the capacity to keep the different ‘Chavismo’ factions unified, then you’re going to see more noticeable divisions [within the party],” he said.