The Venezuelan electoral authority announced that the Venezuelan Democratic Unity had won 99 seats in the 167-seat National Assembly on Monday.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro conceded defeat, saying he recognized the “adverse” results in the elections.
“We are here, with morals and ethics, to recognize these adverse results,” Maduro said in a televised statement, blaming the coalition’s gains on a so-called “economic war.”
A total of 19.4 million Venezuelans were eligible to vote. The electoral commission recorded a turnout of 74.25 percent.
“The results are as we hoped. Venezuela has won. It’s irreversible,” tweeted Henrique Capriles, a leading opposition figure in the Democratic Unity Roundtable and a former presidential challenger.
The vote was seen as a referendum on Maduro’s handling of the country, which despite having the world’s largest oil reserves, faces chronic shortages of basic foods, inflation in the triple digits and a wave of violent crime.
The government says much of the country’s woes are the result of an “economic war” being waged against the government by the opposition and the United States, exacerbated by the shrinking price of oil, Venezuela’s lifeblood.
“The economic war has won, for now, circumstantially,” Maduro said, predicting that the opposition would try to dismantle the gains of the “Bolivarian revolution” which while oil prices were high established a broad social welfare system that won Chávez a fervent following.
Venezuela is reportedly is facing shortages of basic supplies like rice, sugar, cooking oil, milk, and coffee.
The ruling Socialists have been in power since 1999. Maduro’s presidential term will end in 2019, unless the opposition manages to secure a large majority or push for a recall referendum next year.
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