MEXICO CITY (Sputnik) – MUD has for the first time in 17 years gained a parliamentary majority in elections held on December 6, 2015, gaining a total two-thirds of seats in the National Assembly.
"Ramos Allup won 62 votes and Julio Borges [MUD-affiliated Justice First party candidate] 49. The process was impeccably democratic. There was not a null vote," Torrealba said as quoted by the Venezuelan El Universal newspaper on Sunday.
Torrealba, MUD’s secretary-general, said 111 out of the 112 registered lawmakers took part in Sunday’s leadership vote.
Ramos Allup has called for ensuring peace in the country following the landmark secret ballot, and stressed that the new parliament must work in the interest of all Venezuelans.
"We have to give democracy its real content that is respect for the majority and the respect for the minority," he said. "There will be no hegemony."
Ramos Allup’s election came against the backdrop of a Supreme Court decision suspending three newly elected MUD lawmakers from taking office, leaving the opposition with 109 parliamentarians against the 111 needed for a majority.
One ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) lawmaker has also been suspended in the 167-member legislature.
