President Maduro's Socialists dominate Venezuelan regional elections

 In Venezuela's regional elections, President Nicolas Maduro's Socialists have won the most votes in 20 of the 23 states and in the capital Caracas.

The results were reported by the Venezuelan television channel Telesur, citing preliminary results from the electoral authority on Sunday evening.

The turnout for the election of governors, mayors and city councillors was 41.8%, according to the president of the electoral authority.

For the first time in several years, the opposition in Venezuela had participated in the ballot, but self-proclaimed opposition leader Juan Guiado did not call on his supporters to vote.

Since 2017, the opposition has boycotted all elections in the crisis-hit South American state because they saw no preconditions for free and fair voting.

Venezuela is mired in a deep political, economic and humanitarian crisis.

Poverty, violence

Opposition leader Guaido declared himself interim president in early 2019, and has been trying to push Maduro out of office ever since. Maduro is backed by the powerful military.

Faced with poverty and violence, around 5.6 million Venezuelans have left the country.

Most recently, Maduro's authoritarian government and the opposition had come somewhat closer during talks in Mexico. As a result, the government's opponents pledged their participation in the regional elections.