In the name of democracy, Venezuela bans the opposition

LET us get ready for 2018,” boomed Nicolás Maduro as he hailed the “third great victory of the Venezuelan people”. The president was gloating over a vote on December 10th, in which his United Socialist Party, which has looted and misgoverned the country into economic ruin, bagged more than 90% of the country’s mayoral contests. It was a hollow triumph. The three main opposition parties fielded no candidates, having reasonably called the voting a sham. (The other “victories” were equally flawed: the creation in July of a rubber-stamp “constituent assembly” to replace an elected legislature, and a ballot for governors in October.) More…