Uncertainty in Venezuela After Historic Parliamentary Elections

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On December 6, 2015 the opposition alliance in Venezuela, the Mesa de Unidad Democrática (MUD), won a super majority of 112 deputies in the 167 seat unicameral Asamblea Nacional (AN) or National Assembly, displacing the long-dominant Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV), led by President Nicolás Maduro, the hand-picked successor to the leader of the “Bolivarian Revolution,” Hugo Chávez.  While many commentators have heralded a dramatic swing to the right in Venezuela, and in the region, others have remarked that with this legislative victory all that has happened is the opening of a new round of political struggle in which Venezuela still faces many problems with limited options.