2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Electoral system
The election was mainly observed by allies of the Venezuelan government after many international bodies decided that there were no democratic guarantees in the country; the United Nations declined the invitation to monitor the election, after members of the opposition asked the UN not to send observers. On 23 March 2018 a United Nations official informed that the organization would not offer electoral assistance in the elections, without explaining the motives. Spokesperson Farhan Haq stated that a letter was sent to Venezuelan authorities regarding the request of electoral experts, but did not explain the content. These observers included the Latin American Council on Electoral Experts, Common Frontiers, Unifor, former Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and former President of Ecuador Rafael Correa.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition
In March 2017, parties of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), the opposition's main electoral alliance, began discussion on who would be their candidate for the 2018 presidential elections. On 14 March 2017, Popular Will announced that Leopoldo López, the party's National Coordinator who is currently imprisoned for his role in the 2014 protests against the Bolivarian government, was chosen to be their candidate for the MUD primaries.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition
Days later, on 20 March 2017, Justice First chose Henrique Capriles Radonski to be their candidate for the primaries, his third run for the presidency, with his previous attempts occurring in the 2012 and 2013 presidential elections. On 21 March 2017, veteran politician Henry Ramos Allup was chosen to be the candidate for the Democratic Action.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition
In February 2018, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) announced that it would boycott the presidential election, saying the electoral system was rigged in favor of incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition
On 5 May 2018, a poll by DolarToday showed that if the elections were held on that date, 45% of the participants would give their opposition vote for Lorenzo Mendoza, CEO of Empresas Polar, 24% for Leopoldo López, 12% for María Corina Machado, 9% for Henry Ramos Allup, 7% for Henrique Capriles, and 3% for Henri Falcón.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition, Disqualifications
The majority of popular leaders of the MUD and other members of the opposition could not apply for the elections because of administrative and legal procedures and were disqualified from participating in the presidential elections by the government.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition, Disqualifications
This included Henrique Capriles (candidate in the 2012 and 2013 elections), Leopoldo López (sentenced to almost 14 years of prison during the 2014 protests), Antonio Ledezma (arrested in 2015 and later placed under house arrest), Freddy Guevara (whose parliamentary immunity was removed and fled to the residence of the Chilean ambassador), and David Smolansky (currently in exile), as well as María Corina Machado and Miguel Rodríguez Torres, former defense minister and dissident chavista, also incarcerated. On 5 April 2017, the Comptroller General of Venezuela notified Capriles that for 15 years, he would be prevented from participating in public office, due to his alleged misuse of public funds, a charge that Capriles denied.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition, Disqualifications
Ramos Allup has in his head that he could be a presidential candidate. That is Maduro's candidate...


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition, Disqualifications
The main opposition political parties were disqualified after they were forced to reregister themselves for a second time in less than a year by the National Electoral Council (CNE) after not participating in the 2017 municipal elections. The parties Popular Will and Puente refused to do so, while the CNE prevented Justice First; only the party Acción Democrática was revalidated. In late January 2018, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice blocked the revalidation of the Democratic Unity Roundtable card, the most voted in the electoral history of the country, and was also banned. Finally, Justice First was disqualified weeks later from the presidential race in early February 2018, leaving only Democratic Action and other minor opposition parties.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, Opposition, Disqualifications
The actions by the government cleared the path for Henry Ramos Allup and his Democratic Action to gain popularity in the presidential elections. Ramos Allup was accused of "cozying up" to the ruling PSUV party during the recent regional elections. He has been criticized for his negotiations with the government. After many other opposition parties were disqualified, President Maduro singled out Ramos Allup and stated that he would run against him.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Primary process, PSUV
Due to the perceived unpopularity of President Nicolás Maduro within the PSUV, it was speculated that potential candidates would include former National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, Vice President Tareck El Aissami, and National Constituent Assembly President Delcy Rodríguez. However, Maduro was eventually chosen to run as the party's presidential candidate.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Candidates, Maduro
Nicolás Maduro, the successor of Hugo Chávez who assumed and was elected to the presidency in 2013, ran for re-election. Maduro has denied that there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and says that Venezuelans dying from poor health is "exaggerated", blaming many shortcomings on the United States. Maduro made the campaign promise of creating a "new economy" in Venezuela.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Candidates, Maduro
The Bolivarian government also increased spending on populist policies during the campaign to help sway voters to support Maduro. Analysts suggested that those policies would further exacerbate the negative effects of the crisis in Venezuela.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Candidates, Falcón
Henri Falcón is a former governor of Lara who left PSUV in 2010 and founded the party Progressive Advance in 2012, which was affiliated to the Democratic Unity Roundtable until 2018. His political positioning was seen by some as a good way to govern from a position between the government and the opposition, though some Chavistas believe he is a "traitor" while some in the opposition think he is an infiltrator. Falcón was officially nominated as a presidential candidate by the Movement for Socialism on 26 February 2018.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Candidates, Bertucci
Javier Bertucci, an evangelical pastor, announced his candidacy on 18 February 2018. He emphasized bringing back the "values" of Venezuelans, stating that his church has cared for the poor in Venezuela. Bertucci is against abortion and believes same-sex partners should not adopt children, stating, "I respect and love any person who has a different sexual orientation, but in a legal sense, I would have to tell them categorically that I would never support this".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Candidates, Bertucci
However, Bertucci has said that despite his "absolutely conservative" values, he would hold a referendum on whether to legalize abortion and same-sex marriage, claiming that he would support the decisions of the people, "even those contrary to Christianity". Bertucci was one of the Venezuelan businessmen involved in the Panama Papers leak. On 18 February actress Diosa Canales expressed she was against the elections, but supported Bertucci's candidacy.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Candidates, Quijada
Reinaldo Quijada an electrical engineer who follows the chavista movement, stated he would take up the "revolutionary process" in his campaign and that "we are certainly opposed to the government of President Maduro, we are certainly opposed to the PSUV, but we are not opposed to the revolutionary process".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Candidates, Ratti
Luis Alejandro Ratti is a chavista businessman and evangelical pastor. He was formerly part of the Hugo Chávez Bolivarian Front until he broke ranks with the Maduro government. During his campaign, Ratti stated he would "represent the people with chivalry, bravery, and without fear, guaranteeing that they are going to have a different path than the last twenty years". After withdrawing from the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees on 30 April, he announced his exit from the presidential race on 8 May and threw his support behind Henri Falcón.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
On 2 April 2018, Falcón's security adviser Colonel Teodoro Campos was attacked by pro-government colectivos, with a head wound that left the deputy severely injured and later had him placed in an intensive care unit where he was intubated and placed on a ventilator.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
CNE president Tibisay Lucena announced on 12 April that the political parties and individuals that promote abstention will be sanctioned. The campaign for the presidential elections and the legislative councils started on 22 April and ended on 17 May midnight. In late April, Maduro visited the state of Bolivar and stated that this "is a new beginning to get 10 million votes" and that "love will overcome May 20 over the lies, of manipulation and economic warfare".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
On 24 April, during a campaign event in Carabobo state, Nicolás Maduro declared that during the electoral campaign, the government would call on all Venezuelans with the Carnet de la Patria to look after votes, assured that the closer they get to 10 million votes, "the more guarantee of peace, of stability" and of "economic recovery" there would be. Maduro called Henri Falcón "Faltrump" due to his dollarization proposal and labeled Javier Bertucci as "Little Soup Bertucci", referring to his charity activities of delivering soup to impoverished Venezuelans.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
Bertucci denounced that his campaign manager in Sucre state, Ángel Arias, was shot in the stomach on 27 April while making preparations for a midday speech scheduled in Cumaná. According to a press release of Bertucci's party, a 25-year-old man shot Arias after trying to steal his cellphone; the robber did not achieve his mission and fled by motorcycle, leaving the manager at the scene. Aria was moved to a health center to be attended to his wounds.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
I would take a rifle to start the armed revolution. This people will never stand a sellout and capitalist government, that is why we have to prepare ourselves to defend in peace the sovereignty and democracy of Venezuela


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
On 1 May, in Cojedes state, Maduro threatened taking action against supermarkets and food centers nationwide if they increased the prices of products in the following days, declaring that after the 20 May election "I'll be president anyway...by hook or by crook"". On 2 May, Maduro warned in a campaign rally in Vargas state that if a "capitalist government" that handed over the country's resources were to be installed, he would take up arms himself to defend the revolution, stating "I would take a rifle to start the armed revolution.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
These people will never stand for a sellout and capitalist government, that is why we have to prepare ourselves to defend in peace the sovereignty and democracy of Venezuela", On 18 May, Maduro stated "Venezuela has become the focus and the elections in a world election ... I will accept the results, whatever they are". He said that his opponent Henri Falcón was the International Monetary Fund's candidate. Maduro affirmed not to care about the position of the countries that declared that they will dismiss the presidential elections, saying "What fuck do I give that Europe does not recognize me, that Washington does not recognize me. I care about what the Venezuelan people say".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
On 11 May President Maduro said, during a campaign rally in Trujillo state, "Imperialism, go fuck yourself with your orders because here in Venezuela the sovereign people rules". Before a campaign rally in Charallave on 15 May 2018, President Maduro's group handed out free mangoes to supporters suffering from hunger who had arrived at the event. On 16 May President Maduro said that he foresaw a "great victory" and accused the US and France of trying to "put pressure on the country" to overthrow his government, saying "The Ku Klux Klan of Washington is pursuing us". Maduro also blamed Venezuela's economic difficulties on "the economic forces of the United States" and the "oligarchy that did not conform when it lost political power".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
On 17 May the campaign closure rally of Nicolás Maduro took place on Bolívar Avenue in Caracas. During his speech of the campaign closure, Maduro expressed that Bolívar Avenue was "overwhelmed", but Winston Vallenilla once asked the assistants to come closer to fill the empty spaces and publications on social networks of deputy Luis Florido and other persons refuted the claim. Argentine former football player Diego Maradona participated and danced in the rally. The same day Bertucci condemned the international sanctions against Venezuela saying, "How can they ask for sanctions against the country. Oh, it is easy.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Campaign
They are abroad eating well, sleeping well, living in luxurious homes. Asking for the United States government to tighten sanctions, and to tighten the noose on the Venezuelan people. I think that is irresponsible. That's not what we need." A Venezuelan in Rome published a video explaining that he found a large painting on a wall promoting the vote for Maduro and complaining that the country's money is wasted on placing said messages abroad.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Demonstrations
On 16 May the opposition and dissident chavismo called for a protest to reject the elections. The demonstrators marched to the seat of the Organization of American States in Caracas. In the morning officials of the Bolivarian National Police with anti-riot equipment forced the protesters in the Brión Square in Chacao to leave, arguing they did not have permission to meet in the public space. The Caracas Metro staff closed the Chacaíto station before the demonstration started as a security measure, as they informed in the loudspeakers to the users. Politicians such as Delsa Solórzano, Juan Requesens, Ivlev Silva and Andrés Velásquez.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Opinion polls
In a January 2018 poll surrounding the presidential election, Meganalisis stated that only 29% of respondents desired to vote in the elections and 72.5% stated that they did not trust the CNE electoral body. Those who chose not to vote had various reasons; 45% believed that even if they voted, hunger would continue, 20% believed it was a "waste of time", and 13% believed that the opposition had betrayed the country. As for the support of political parties, 81% stated that they were not part of any party, 12% were part of the government PSUV party, and 6% supported the opposition-led MUD.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Opinion polls
According to Meganálisis, an April 2018 poll found that 65.4% of respondents believed that Falcón was working in collaboration with President Maduro to create the fraudulent appearance of a legitimate democratic election. Falcón disputes this, however, stating that "electoral boycotts almost never work. In country after country, opposition forces that abandoned the field of electoral competition have lost ground and allowed rulers to consolidate power."


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, National Electoral Council bias
While nothing in the Venezuelan constitution prevents elections from being called early, the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory noted that the call for elections was disrespecting the tradition of organizing them in December to avoid an extended transition, with exceptions in the year 2000 during the re-legitimization of all public powers by the approval of a new constitution; in October 2012 for the illness of Hugo Chávez, and in April 2013 for being an election due to the death of the president, maintaining that "the decision announced again showed the political bias of the electoral referee, since it included elements that made it difficult to have an election under equal conditions" and that the CNE" struck a blow to democratic plurality" by preventing opposition parties from participating in the presidential election.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, National Electoral Council bias
It also stated that since 2016 the electoral justice system administered in the country was "not impartial", citing the cases of the indigenous deputies of the Amazonas state who were dismissed from their positions for alleged irregularities in their election, which after two years have not been proven, while the fraud allegations made by the candidate to the governorship of Bolívar, Andrés Velásquez in October 2017 had yet not been investigated.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
The Venezuelan Electoral Registry determines the number of people that will vote and in it the voters that must comply with mandatory electoral service in electoral boards are chosen, as well as the regional, municipal and parochial boards for the elections.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
While in the 2012 presidential elections the CNE took two months to carry out the data update, migration and inscription of new voters in the Electoral Registry, in the 2018 elections the voters only had ten days between 10 and 20 February according to the both the first 22 April and the definitive 20 May electoral schedules, both inside and outside the country, and the audits to the data were shortened from months to a few days. The Electoral Registry has not been audited since 2005, with no independent observation for over a decade by the date of the election.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
It is clear that the CNE has done little to encourage the inscription of these new voters in the registry with institutional campaigns, breaking the current electoral law that which obligates it to deploy inscription and update centers in 'sectors of difficult access and/or of highest population concentration' in all the national territory and in any moment of the year


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
In 2012 more than 1,300 updates of the Electoral Registry points were deployed on a national scale, but in 2018 less than half were opened, 531. The Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy estimated in the report The Citizen Observation of the Electoral Registry 2017 that at least 1,769,035 young voters were not inscribed in the Electoral Registry by December 2017.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
For the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory, the "CNE has done little to encourage the inscription of these new voters in the registry with institutional campaigns, breaking the current electoral law that which obligates it to deploy inscription and update centers in 'sectors of difficult access and/or of highest population concentration' in all the national territory and in any moment of the year" according to Article 33 of the Organic Law of Electoral Processes, and that "what is needed for the citizen to exercise their right to vote is not being done".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
On 15 February, President Maduro, without being an electoral authority, announced the extension for five days for the inscription in the electoral registry abroad and informed the opening of the Venezuelan consulate in Miami so that Venezuelans living in the city could make changes and participate. The second opening of the registry happened with the elections date change to 20 May and it was opened from 2 to 10 March.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
In theory, the registry allowed to update information or inscribe new voters for 24 days abroad the country and 19 in Venezuela, but electoral experts denounced obstacles for the inscription of Venezuelans abroad, because besides being insufficient it led to other obstacles that did not allow for more assistance to embassies or consultares. The electoral registry abroad only increased by 7,028 voters, which does not represent even the 0.5% of the Venezuelans estimated abroad. Nationally by 910,272 new voters were registered, adding to the 20,759,809 existing voters.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
Voto Joven complained because the consultes did not work on holidays, only worked on office hours without enough time or information, as well as the requirement to ask for a permanent visa to those who live in the countries where the opening was formalized, even though to vote only a laminated identity card is needed.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Electoral Registry
The Observatory also denounced that "The ER of Venezuelans abroad has been in a sort of illegal suspension since 2012, a measure violatory of the current electoral law" and that according to the last report of the CNE on 30 April 2017, the Venezuelans with the right to vote abroad are only 101,595 voters, "a number much lower than the migrants with the right to vote" in comparison to the estimates of between 2 and 4 million Venezuelans living abroad. Even though to vote only a laminated identity card is needed, active passports, original birth certificates, visas, residence letters, and other administrative requirements not covered by law were requested by consulates and embassies, preventing their participation in the elections.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Agreement of Electoral Guarantees
The Agreement of Electoral Guarantees is a scam for the citizen since it covers points already established in the Law and that the CNE has not met


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Agreement of Electoral Guarantees
The signing of the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees by three of the original five presidential candidates – Maduro, Falcón, and Bertucci – was presented by the candidates as an extension of the electoral norms. The agreement included, among other aspects, the move to eliminate pro-government "red points" controlled by chavistas – which after the agreement had to be moved farther away from voting centers – the call for international observers and the return to voting center locations changed during the Constituent Assembly elections and the 2017 regional elections.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Agreement of Electoral Guarantees
The agreement has been questioned and rejected by the NGOs Voto Joven, CEPAZ, and the Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy. On 27 March, the CEPAZ director Beatriz Borges declared that "the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees is a scam for the citizen since it covers initiatives that were already established in the Law and that the CNE has not met".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Agreement of Electoral Guarantees
Despite that the presidential candidates Henri Falcón, Javier Bertucci, and Luis Alejandro Ratti denounced the violation of guarantees provided in the agreement, on 2 May the president of the CNE, Tibisay Lucena, contradicted the complaints and assured that the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees was "fulfilled in its entirety".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Vote buying
Reports of vote buying were also prevalent during the presidential campaigning. Venezuelans suffering from hunger were pressured to vote for Maduro, with the government bribing potential supporters with food. Maduro promised rewards for citizens who scanned their Carnet de la Patria at the voting booth, which would allow the government to monitor the political party of their citizens and whether or not they had voted. These prizes were reportedly never delivered.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Vote buying
Everyone who has a Carnet de la Patria has to go to vote on 20 May. ... I am thinking of giving a prize to the people of Venezuela who go out to vote that day with the Carnet de la Patria


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Vote buying
In a visit to Delta Amacuro, president and reelection candidate Nicolás Maduro gave away eight motor boats, nine ambulances, and reopened the "Antonio Díaz" Tucupita Airport, among other announcements, violating Article 223 of the Organic Law of Electoral Processes which forbids the use of state resources during election campaigns, as well as one of the prerogatives in the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees signed by the presidential candidates to the CNE. On 8 May Maduro again violated the electoral law during an electoral act in the Amazonas state by promising to give fuel to the entity in exchange for votes.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Medical care and voter fraud
Mission Barrio Adentro was a program established by Chávez to bring medical care to poor neighborhoods; it was staffed by Cubans that were sent to Venezuela in exchange for petroleum. The New York Times interviewed Cuban medical professionals in 2019 who had worked for Barrio Adentro prior to the election; sixteen revealed that they were required to participate in voting fraud. In the earlier 2013 election, four of the Cubans said that "command centers" for elections were placed near clinics to facilitate "dispatching doctors to pressure residents".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Medical care and voter fraud
But they also "described a system of deliberate political manipulation"; their services as medical professionals "were wielded to secure votes for the governing Socialist Party, often through coercion", they told The New York Times. Facing a shortage of supplies and medicine, they were instructed to withhold treatment–even for emergencies–so supplies and treatment could be "doled out closer to the election, part of a national strategy to compel patients to vote for the government". They reported that life-saving treatment was denied to patients who supported the opposition.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Controversies and issues, Medical care and voter fraud
As the election neared, they were sent door-to-door, on house visits with a political purpose: "to hand out medicine and enlist voters for Venezuela's Socialist Party". Patients were warned that they could lose their medical care if they did not vote for the socialist party, and that, if Maduro lost, ties would be broken with Cuba, and Venezuelans would lose all medical care. Patients with chronic conditions, at risk of death if they couldn't get medicine, were a particular focus of these tactics. One said that government officials were posing as doctors to make these house calls before elections; 'We, the doctors, were asked to give our extra robes to people. The fake doctors were even giving out medicines, without knowing what they were or how to use them," he said.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct
The electoral conduct has been described as being fraudulent, with the call for an election by the pro-government Constituent National Assembly being declared unconstitutional in the first place, especially when the body moved the election date ahead from December to April. The National Electoral Council (CNE), which is charged with overseeing elections in Venezuela, is also controlled by Maduro sympathizers. The Venezuelan government has also been accused of excluding opposition candidates, handpicking candidates, voter intimidation, vote buying, and offering food to those who vote for President Maduro. No recognized electoral observers were reported to be present for the elections.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Announcement
The 1999 Venezuelan constitution establishes that the Electoral Branch, conformed by the National Electoral Council and its subordinate organisms, is responsible for "the organization, administration, direction and surveillance of all the acts related to the election of positions of representation of the branches of government, as well as referendums". Despite this, the Constituent Assembly issued a decree in January 2018 ordering the CNE to organize the presidential elections to be held in April. The Venezuelan Electoral Observatory declared that "the decision announced by the CNE evidences once more the political bias of the electoral arbitrator" and warned that 74 days are insufficient to guarantee the equality and transparency of the elections.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Announcement
We deeply regret that elections were summoned without a broad agreement of its schedule nor of the conditions for an inclusive and credible electoral process.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Announcement
The Observatory pointed out that phases of the process such as the selection of new board members, the choosing of subordinate electoral organisms in public raffles, the deployment of extraordinary journeys of inscription, the update of the Electoral Registry in a broad span that allows the incorporation of the largest amount of Venezuelans, the maintenance of the voting machines, the appropriate implementation of technical audits that guarantee the proper functioning of the automated voting system, and the organization of quality international missions would all be affected due to the lack of time.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Announcement
The Electoral Citizen Network described as "irregular" the order of the Constituent Assembly to summon presidential elections before 30 April 2018, defining that it was a violation of the constitution and civil rights. Like the 2017 municipal elections, the announcement was made less than six months in advance, the time necessary to facilitate the lapses established in the normal electoral process. Súmate and Voto Joven indicated that this would shorten the terms of the Electoral Registry, generating a "hasty and little transparent process". The Electoral Citizen Network demanded the Electoral Branch the performance of special operatives for the inscription and update of voters in Venezuela and abroad.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Announcement
Ramón Guillermo Aveledo, former executive secretary of the Democratic Unity Roundtable, compared the elections to the 1957 referendum of dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, noting that Article 82 and the Organic Law for the Public Municipal Branch specifies the prohibition that the elections for municipal positions are carried out along with the national elections, and that the mandate of the National Assembly ends in 2021, meaning that shortening its period, something not provided in the constitution, or the Venezuelan electoral laws, is "dissolving it", which would be considered "a coup d'état" against the Legislative Branch.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Electoral schedule
Two weeks after the Constituent Assembly ordered the elections and following the failure of the dialogue between the Bolivarian government and the opposition in the Dominican Republic, the CNE fixed 22 April 2018 as the day of the elections in a press conference, also announcing 15 audits and giving some dates, but without formally disclosing the electoral schedule. After changing the date of the elections to 20 May 2018 on 1 March, the CNE took 13 days to disclose the schedule.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Electoral schedule
The Venezuelan Electoral Observatory and the Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy declared that the CNE has reduced the terms in each of the phases of the electoral schedule for the presidential elections since 2013, and in comparison to the 2006 and 2012 schedules with the 2018 one, the spans of the phases went from having up to three months to only two or three days in fundamental aspects, according to the last announcement of the elections. Both the time allotted for applications toward the Electoral Registry and the electoral campaigns were significantly reduced.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Electoral schedule
To determine the electoral districts, the CNE must comply with the population estimates provided by the state-run National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, which in turn requires the approval of the National Assembly first. This step was omitted and the CNE published the districts for the legislative councils at its own discretion, without disclosing its process and without answering any complaints.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Electoral schedule
On 26 March, the Peace and Justice Center (CEPAZ) denounced how the CNE changed the schedule of the 20 May elections "clandestinely and surreptitiously", what it constituted as "a new irregularity that prevents the adequate information about the electoral offers from being guaranteed and facilitated to the voters", referring to the modification made for the ballot choices by the political parties, electoral groups, indigenous organizations, initiatives carried out on 24 March and for the regional candidates, they were scheduled for 26 March in the 23 regional offices of the CNE.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Electoral schedule
According to the Electoral Branch schedule published on 13 March, the choice on ballot for national organizations would be carried out on 21 March and in the case of the regional ones on 22 March, but each one was postponed between three and four days, prompting CEPAZ to warn that due to the "opaque and quiet modification of the electoral schedule", five days were removed from the production and distribution process of the invalid electoral ballots, "further diminishing the possibility of having voters informed".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Electoral schedule
The Venezuelan Electoral Observatory stressed in its report about the elections that the process for nominating presidential candidates was only allowed for only three days in 2018, from 26 to 28 February, while the modification and substitution of nominations, "the CNE enabled 118 days on 2012 and only 2 March in 2018 for this occasion".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Electoral schedule
The Observatory also stressed that although the terms were changed to add the legislative councils, this did not mean a further extension of the days because "16 activities were compressed to be carried out in only 17 days, a schedule in which no task lasted more than eight days". The electoral schedule did not include national observers nor international accompaniment, which the CNE accepted until 2015.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Electoral schedule
After the signature of the Agreement of Electoral Guarantees on 1 March by the political parties Great Patriotic Pole, Movimiento al Socialismo, Avanzada Progresista, and COPEI, the United Nations was requested to head an electoral mission, but the organization refused to accept the offer, even after receiving a formal invitation and accepting visits from principal candidates or their representatives.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Campaigning
It should be prevented that an official, such as the president, use the communication platform to take advantage of the other candidates. In this election there are several who have propaganda on television, but there is no CNE that limits the number of times that is transmitted daily neither the minutes nor the content


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Campaigning
The presidential and legislative councils campaign started on 22 April and ended on 17 May at midnight, according to the schedule approved by the CNE. However, candidates postulated for the presidency or the reelection carried out activities with the electorate and exposed proposals that will be executed in case of being elected, violating Article 75 of the Organic Law of Electoral Processes.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Campaigning
Francisco Castro, national coordinator of Súmate, pointed out that the CNE provided only 26 days for the national campaigning, explaining that the term "does not allow candidates to have enough time to promote their ideas and call for participation, so they are forced to anticipate their campaign. By tradition, the process lasts more than 60 days", noting that the CNE began the process only 80 days prior to the election of more than 500 positions, reducing the time of the activities.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Campaigning
Equally, he indicated that the CNE does not regulate pre-campaign activities and stated that as long as there is not an explicit call to vote, then the candidate cannot be sanctioned. Castro explained that the pattern carried out since the government of Hugo Chávez is repeated in which electoral campaigns are used to inaugurate works and make promises.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Campaigning
He continued by stating that the practice should be prevented, that "an official, such as the president, uses the communication platform to take advantage of the other candidates", saying that during the elections there were several candidates who used propaganda on television, but that the CNE does not limit the number of minutes, the content or the number of times that it is transmitted daily.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Campaigning
Ignacio Ávalos, director of the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory, and political scientist Luis Salamanca agreed that until now, an electoral environment or government project does not exist, but rather "a struggle to achieve power", stressing that electoral competition was suppressed and that an electoral campaign was designed for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela's own convenience. Salamanca asserted that "Maduro distributes benefits to obtain votes and Falcón offers benefits in the future in exchange for votes. Neither has enough weight to mobilize the country electorally".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Campaigning
The Tal Cual newspaper published an article describing Maduro's final campaign rally on 17 May as "the greatest demonstration of corruption", criticizing the "shameless" use of state resources, including the use of ministerial staff and publishing audio which revealed that promotion of the final rally was created using the payroll of government offices. Tal Cual also published the PSUV's operative plan of the rally, which did not include tasks directed towards PSUV party members but instead assigns responsibilities to the state ministries and other public institutions, including the mobilization of people.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Conduct, Campaigning
The operative plan details that the state-run oil company PDVSA installed the main stage, generators, the backing, and the sound systems, that the Defense Ministry was in charge of the fireworks detonations, that the Ministry for Mining Development was responsible for decoration and that other institutions were responsible for the installation of portable bathrooms, visual displays, barriers, awnings, and refreshments. In page six of the PSUV plan it is also written that the people that surrounded the stage from which Maduro was speaking were militias dressed as civilians.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Results
By the time polls were to officially close at 6:00pm VST, it was reported by a CNE source that voter turnout was only 32.3%, the lowest turnout in Venezuela's modern democratic history since the 1958 coup d'état. CNE data would later show that turnout was 46.1%, a record low.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Results
Both Falcón and Bertucci rejected the results, stating that there were too many irregularities. As the results were read by the CNE, many Venezuelans throughout Caracas began a cacerolazo protest against Maduro, with some beginning to barricade streets.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Aftermath
Tibisay Lucena stated that the CNE forbade the payment to voters offered by Maduro. On 22 May when the CNE proclaimed Maduro as president, Maduro announced the creation of a presidential commission for economic advice. The same day, Maduro declared as personae non-gratae American diplomats Todd D. Robinson and Brian Naranjo, who had to leave the country within 48 hours.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Aftermath
In the week prior to the presidential elections around 40 military personnel from different parts of the country were arrested. On 16 May, officials of the Dirección General Contrainteligencia Militar (DGCIM) arrested 12 members of the National Armed Forces with the frigate lieutenant rank. Three days later, 20 military people were detained and on 21 May six more were arrested. Among the detainees are six lieutenant colonels, a first lieutenant and two sergeants, arrested on the charges of crimes against military decorum, treason and instigation of rebellion. Foro Penal lawyer Mariana Ortega informed receiving reports of arbitrary detentions.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Aftermath
On 24 May, Maduro took oath among the Constituent Assembly, a ceremony that should have taken place in January 2018 with the opposition-led National Assembly in accordance with Article 231 of the Venezuelan constitution. The National Assembly rejected the election's results, calling them an "electoral farce" and declared that Maduro must be considered "a usurper". However, Maduro's new six-year term did not begin until 10 January 2019, when he took his official oath at a public ceremony in Caracas in front of the Venezuelan Supreme Court. The ceremony was attended by spectators such as Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and president of Bolivia Evo Morales.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Aftermath
Between the May 2018 presidential election and Maduro's inauguration, there were calls to establish a transitional government. CEO of Venezuela Al Día, Manuel Corao, argued that Maduro was no longer the president and that "the tendencies in Venezuela represented in the National Assembly [wish to] designate a transitional government that fills the vacuum of power and liberates Venezuelans from Communist evil". Former Venezuelan legislator Alexis Ortiz stated that "Castrochavism [...] rots in incompetence, corruption, and surrender of national sovereignty", calling on a transitional government to work on reconciliation, establish general elections, receive humanitarian assistance and protect civil liberties, among other requests.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Aftermath
A November 2018 report by the International Crisis Group said that "[n]eighboring countries and other foreign powers have taken steps–including sanction–to achieve some kind of negotiated transition, which is still the best way out of the crisis".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Aftermath
In January 2019, the National Assembly declared the results of the election invalid, and invoked clauses of the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution to appoint National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaidó as acting president, precipitating the Venezuelan presidential crisis. Maduro's supporters refused to acknowledge the move, and Guaidó was placed under arrest for a short time. Several international organizations and independent countries have lined up to support either side of the conflict, and the former Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela, in exile in Panama since 2017, has given its support to the legitimacy of the National Assembly's moves.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, Domestic
The Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) opposition coalition confirmed on 21 February 2018 that it would not participate in the elections since they "do not comply with democratic conditions or guarantees". Henri Falcon, former Lara State Governor and opposition presidential candidate, lambasted the Democratic Unity Roundtable for their boycott of the elections and stated: "You will disappear as politicians and as parties for not understanding the dynamics of a country that demands solutions and not conflict", and also stated, "four parties (those participating in the elections) believe in national unity".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, Domestic
Movimiento Estudiantil rejected the elections, saying they were called "outside of the lapses established by our Carta Magna" and stated that it they were "requested by an unconstitutional, incompetent body erected on the blood of hundreds of Venezuelans", considering that the elections are not designed for the Venezuelan public, but were created to "perpetuate the hell and the misery lived today". The movement stated that it would not participate in the process and demanded political leaders not to endorse the process.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, Domestic
The NGO Foro Penal decided not to endorse the announcement of the presidential elections based on the fact that the Constituent Assembly does not have constitutional faculties to summon an election because it is only empowered to draft a new constitution, assuring that it would be seizing functions from other political bodies when calling for elections and that the announcement is violating the right of Venezuelans to choose in valid and fair conditions attached to the constitution.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, Domestic
Both the Episcopal Conference of Venezuela and the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Fedecámaras) rejected and asked to postpone the elections in statements published on the week of the elections. The head of the Caracas-based Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy Griselda Colina and former Director of the Carter Center's Americas Program Dr. Jennifer McCoy concluded that Maduro's victory could not be considered democratic due to a wide range of failings in prevailing electoral conditions.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, International, Supranational bodies
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein noted that his office had concerns that reports of extrajudicial killings cast doubts on fairness, stating "this context does not in any way fulfill minimal conditions for free and credible elections". On 23 March 2018 a United Nations official informed that the organization would not offer electoral assistance in the elections, without explaining the motives. Spokesperson Farhan Haq stated that a letter was sent to Venezuelan authorities regarding the request of electoral experts, but did not explain the content.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, International, Supranational bodies
Prior to the elections, the Lima Group, with its participating nations of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Saint Lucia, stated that they would not recognize the results of the presidential elections due to the perceived lack of transparency.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, International, Supranational bodies
With the support of the Lima Group, the Peruvian foreign minister Cayetana Aljovín informed that the presence of President Maduro in the 8th Summit of the Americas "would not be welcome in said encounter", quoting the 2001 Quebec Declaration, which states that "the rupture of democracy constitutes an insuperable obstacle for the participation of a State in the Summit of the Americas". After the vote, Canada joined the group in condemning the election as fraudulent.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, International, Supranational bodies
On 23 February 2018, at a special session supported by its Secretary General Luis Almagro, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted a resolution that asks the Venezuelan government to reconsider the announcement of the presidential elections and to present a new electoral schedule to make possible the performance of elections with all the guarantees needed. The 19 countries that supported the resolution were Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Lucia, the United States, and Uruguay.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, International, Supranational bodies
Following a meeting held on 10 May, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a document stating that the process did not meet international standards, that the CNE electoral body was biased and that the "hurried announcement ... has seriously affected the warranty of the universal vote for the new voters and Venezuelans abroad", concluding that the election would not meet "the minimal conditions needed for the realization of free, fair and reliable elections in Venezuela".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, International, Supranational bodies
On 8 February, the European Parliament, with 480 votes in favor, 51 against, and 70 abstentions, adopted a resolution demanding sanctions against President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Tareck el Aissami, and other officials, considering them "responsible for the aggravation of the crisis. The European Union, through the European Parliament, also ruled that it would not recognize the 20 May elections and called the electoral process "fraudulent". On 3 May 2018, the European Parliament again called for the immediate suspension of the 20 May election until "free and fair elections were held on a schedule agreed upon with the participation of all relevant actors and political parties".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, International, Governments
The governments of Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Spain, the United States and Uruguay directly criticized the electoral process in various ways, condemning the disqualification and imprisonment of MUD individuals, the lack of advanced notice for the election date and the bias of electoral bodies, describing such actions by the Venezuelan government antidemocratic. Remaining member governments representing countries from the Lima Group, including Brazil, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and Saint Lucia, denounced the elections in a joint statement through declarations made by the organization.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Reactions, International, Governments
Meanwhile, the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea and Russia reacted to the call for elections positively, showing support for the process and demanded that there be no intervention.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Recognition, Domestic
The opposition-led National Assembly of Venezuela rejected the results, calling them an "electoral farce". The Democratic Unity Roundtable opposition coalition formalized their dismissal of the electoral results on a legislative level.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Recognition, Domestic
Candidate Henri Falcón denounced the election before the announcement of the results. CNE rector and president of the Political Participation and Finance Commission Luis Emilio Rondón announced his rejection of the electoral results, stating that "clearly they were flawed". Rondón offered the office of the commission to the candidates to file their irregularities reports that they exposed to "organize the claims that correspond to the clarification of all these aspects that disrupt the electoral process".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Recognition, International, Unrecognized
The European Union, after calling for the suspension of the elections, stated that they would not recognize the results. On 28 May 2018, the Council of the European Union, with its members representing the executive governments of members states including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, refused to recognize the election results and called for new, democratic elections.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Recognition, International, Unrecognized
The Lima Group—comprising Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Saint Lucia—announced that it would not recognize the results. In written statements, the Group's members said they would reduce their diplomatic relations, consult with their ambassadors and summon the Venezuelan ambassadors in their countries to protest against the election for "not complying with international standards for a free, fair and transparent process".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Recognition, International, Unrecognized
The leaders of the G7 group, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, joined the European Union in rejecting the elections and denounced that their development did not "comply with international standards" and did not grant "basic guarantees".


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Recognition, International, Unrecognized
Individually, Australia, Chile, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Georgia also refused to recognize the election.


2018 Venezuelan presidential election, Recognition, International, Recognized
Antigua and Barbuda, Belarus, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, El Salvador, Iran, North Korea, South Africa, Russia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Syria, Turkey (the only NATO member), Vietnam and the disputed state of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) recognized the election result. Many of the Caribbean nations that recognized the election rely on Venezuela for oil as part of the Petrocaribe programme.


2018 Venezuelan protest movement
The 2018 Venezuelan protest movement is mass protests and a wave of demonstrations and unprecedented marches against low MDs salary and unions protests against hyperinflation in Venezuela, starting in May 2018, and ending in August 2018, with none of their main focal points made with the government.


2018 Venezuelan protest movement
Lawyers, jobless workers and teachers also held strikes throughout the strike movement period. Large confrontations occur during the protests, but the nonviolent movement continues, calling for salaries and better wage increases. President Nicolas Maduro condemned the protest actions.


2018 Venezuelan protest movement
Protesters formed cacerolazo, human chains, barricades, roadblocks and pickets nationwide. After the protests, the large demonstrations turned smaller and dwindled after police violence in July, in which tens were injured and hundreds were arrested.


2018 Vermont House of Representatives election
The 2018 Vermont House of Representatives elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Vermont voters will elect state representatives in all 150 seats. State representatives serve two-year terms in the Vermont House of Representatives. A primary election on August 14, 2018 determined which candidates appeared on the November 6 general election ballot.


2018 Vermont House of Representatives election
Following the 2016 State House elections, Democrats maintained effective control of the House with a 97 member caucus (83 Democrats, 7 Independents, and 7 Progressives). Before the election, to take control of the chamber from Democrats, the Republicans would have needed to net 23 State House seats. However, instead the Democrats instead gained 12 seats, increasing their majorities.


2018 Vermont House of Representatives election, Summary of Results by State House District
Primary election results can be obtained from the Vermont Secretary of State's website.


2018 Vermont House of Representatives election, Incumbents not seeking re-election, Retiring incumbents
28 incumbent Representatives (17 Democrats and 11 Republicans) are not seeking re-election in 2018:


2018 Vermont Senate election
The 2018 Vermont State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Vermont voters elected State Senators in all 30 seats. State senators serve two-year terms in the Vermont Senate. A primary election on August 14, 2018 determined which candidates appeared on the November 6 general election ballot.


2018 Vermont Senate election
Following the 2016 State Senate elections, Democrats maintained effective control of the Senate with 23 members in the majority caucus (21 Democrats and 2 Progressives). To claim control of the chamber from Democrats, the Republicans would have needed to net gain 8 or 9 seats depending on the winner of the 2018 Vermont Lieutenant Governor election, which was Progressive Dave Zuckerman. However, in the elections, the Democrats instead gained one seat. from the Republicans.


2018 Vermont Senate election, Summary of results
Primary election results can be obtained from the Vermont Secretary of State's website.


2018 Vermont elections
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Vermont on November 6, 2018. All of Vermont's executive officers were up for election as well as Vermont's Class I Senate seat and at-large seat in the United States House of Representatives. Primary elections were held on August 14, 2018.


2018 Vermont elections, United States Senate
Independent incumbent Bernie Sanders was elected to a third term.


2018 Vermont elections, United States House of Representatives
Democratic incumbent Peter Welch was elected to a seventh term.


2018 Vermont elections, Governor
Incumbent Republican Phil Scott was elected to a second term.


2018 Vermont elections, Lieutenant Governor
Incumbent Progressive/Democratic Lieutenant Governor Dave Zuckerman (since 2017) was elected to a second term.


2018 Vermont elections, Lieutenant Governor, Republican primary
House Republican Minority Leader Don H. Turner Jr. ran uncontested in the Republican primary.


2018 Vermont elections, Lieutenant Governor, Progressive primary
Zuckerman also again ran as a write-in candidate in the Progressive primary and was unopposed.


2018 Vermont elections, Lieutenant Governor, Liberty Union nomination
Murray Ngoima, candidate for Treasurer in 2010, 2014, and 2016, ran unopposed for the Liberty Union State Committee's nomination for Lieutenant Governor.


2018 Vermont elections, Secretary of State
Incumbent Democratic Secretary of State Jim Condos (since 2011) was elected to a fifth term.


2018 Vermont elections, Secretary of State, Republican primary
H. Brooke Paige, a perennial candidate, was unopposed in the Republican primary. Paige also ran in and won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Attorney General, Treasurer and Auditor of Accounts.


2018 Vermont elections, Secretary of State, Liberty Union nomination
Mary Alice Herbert, candidate for Secretary of State in 2016, ran unopposed for the Liberty Union State Committee's nomination for Secretary of State.


2018 Vermont elections, Treasurer
Incumbent Democratic Treasurer Beth Pearce (since 2011) was elected to a fifth term.


2018 Vermont elections, Treasurer, Republican primary
H. Brooke Paige, a perennial candidate, was unopposed in the Republican primary. Paige also ran in and won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Attorney General, Secretary of State and State Auditor of Accounts.


2018 Vermont elections, Treasurer, Republican primary, Post-primary
Paige withdrew August 24, allowing the state Republican party to name a replacement. On August 29, the Vermont Republican Party selected Rick Morton, the current state party treasurer.


2018 Vermont elections, Attorney General
Incumbent Democratic Attorney General T. J. Donovan (since 2017) was elected to a second term.


2018 Vermont elections, Attorney General, Republican primary
H. Brooke Paige, a perennial candidate, was unopposed in the Republican primary. Paige also ran in and won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Secretary of State, State Treasurer and State Auditor of Accounts.


2018 Vermont elections, Attorney General, Republican primary, Post primary
Paige withdrew August 24, allowing the state Republican party to name a replacement. On August 29, the Vermont Republican Party selected State Representative Janssen Willhoit (Caledonia-3) as their Attorney General nominee.


2018 Vermont elections, Attorney General, Liberty Union nomination
Rosemarie Jackowski, candidate for Attorney General in 2016, ran unopposed for the Liberty Union State Committee's nomination for Attorney General.


2018 Vermont elections, Auditor of Accounts
Incumbent Democratic/Progressive Auditor Doug Hoffer (since 2013) was elected to a fourth term.


2018 Vermont elections, Auditor of Accounts, Republican primary
H. Brooke Paige, a perennial candidate, was unopposed in the Republican primary. Paige also ran in and won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Attorney General, Secretary of State and State Treasurer.


2018 Vermont elections, Auditor of Accounts, Republican primary, Post-primary
Paige withdrew August 24, allowing the state Republican party to name a replacement. On August 29, the Vermont Republican Party selected Rick Kenyon, a tax preparer from Brattleboro.


2018 Vermont elections, Auditor of Accounts, Progressive primary
Hoffer also again ran as a write-in candidate in the Progressive primary and was unopposed.


2018 Vermont elections, Auditor of Accounts, Liberty Union nomination
Marina Brown, candidate for Auditor in 2016, ran unopposed for the Liberty Union State Committee's nomination for Auditor.


2018 Vermont elections, State Legislature
All 30 seats in the Vermont Senate and all 150 seats of the Vermont House of Representatives were up for election. The balance of political power before the elections for each chamber was:


2018 Vermont elections, State Legislature, House of Representatives
And the results of the elections for both chambers was:


2018 Vermont elections, County offices
All county level offices were up for election. The balance of political power before and after the elections for each office was:


2018 Vermont gubernatorial election
The 2018 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the Governor of Vermont, concurrently with the election of Vermont's Class I U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Governor Phil Scott, who was first elected in 2016, was re-elected to a second term in office. Hallquist's 40.4% was also the worst performance for a Democratic Party candidate since 2008.


2018 Vermont gubernatorial election, Background
Along with New Hampshire, Vermont is one of only two states where governors are elected to two-year terms. Republican Phil Scott was elected in the 2016 election.


2018 Vermont gubernatorial election, Democratic primary, Results
With this result, Christine Hallquist became the first openly transgender candidate for governor nominated by a major political party in the United States.


2018 Vermont gubernatorial election, General election, Results
Despite initial expectations of a potentially close race due to national blue wave, Scott easily won reelection in what became a difficult year for Republicans, winning by 15 percentage points.


2018 Victorian Amateur Football Association season
The 2018 VAFA season was the 118th season of the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA), and the 81st under its current name since 1933. Seventy teams participated across seven divisions under a promotion and relegation system.


2018 Victorian Amateur Football Association season, Ladders, Division 2
Eltham Collegians transferred to the Northern Football League after the conclusion of the season.


2018 Victorian Amateur Football Association season, Ladders, Division 4
Mt. Lilydale Old Collegians merged with veteran side Croydon North to form Croydon North-MLOC Football Club after the conclusion of the season. The new team then transferred to the Eastern Football League.


2018 Victorian state election
The 2018 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for election. The first-term incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Daniel Andrews, won a second four-year term, defeating the Liberal/National Coalition opposition, led by Opposition Leader Matthew Guy. Minor party the Greens led by Samantha Ratnam also contested the election.


2018 Victorian state election
Labor won 55 seats in the 88-seat Legislative Assembly, an increase of eight seats from the previous election in 2014, a majority of 15. This was the fifth time that a Labor government was re-elected in Victoria, and it tied Victorian Labor's second-best showing at the state level. The Coalition suffered an 11-seat swing against it, and won 27 seats. The Greens won 3 seats, a net increase of 1 seat since the last election though equal to the share of seats they held when the election was called. The remaining three seats on the crossbench were won by independents. In the Legislative Council, Labor won 18 seats, three short of a majority. The Coalition won 11 seats and the remaining 11 seats were won by a range of minor parties from across the political spectrum.


2018 Victorian state election
Several days after Labor's victory, the Second Andrews Ministry was sworn in by the Governor and was notable for featuring an equal number of men and women. The following week the Liberal Party elected Michael O'Brien leader of the party, who became Opposition Leader in the new parliament, after Guy had announced earlier he would stand down from the position.


2018 Victorian state election
For the election, Victoria had compulsory voting and used preferential voting in single-member seats for the Legislative Assembly, and single transferable vote in multi-member seats for the proportionally represented Legislative Council. The Legislative Council had 40 members serving four-year terms, elected from eight electoral regions each with five members. With each region electing 5 members, the quota in each region for election, after distribution of preferences, was 16.7% (one-sixth). The election was conducted by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), an independent body answerable to parliament.


2018 Victorian state election, Results, Legislative Assembly
* Compared with results at 2014 election. The Greens went into the 2018 election with 3 seats following the Northcote by-election, 2017** Compared with results at 2014 election. There were 3 independent members at the dissolution of parliament following resignations by Russell Northe and Don Nardella. * ** Based on the 87 districts for which the Liberal/National Coalition fielded a candidate. The Liberal Party did not field a candidate in Richmond. Labor received 73.07% of the two-party-preferred vote in that district at the 2014 election.


2018 Victorian state election, Results, Legislative Assembly
Labor's victory came primarily on the strength of a larger-than-expected and larger than statewide swing in eastern Melbourne, which has traditionally decided elections in Victoria. According to the ABC's election analyst Antony Green, the eastern suburbs were swept up in a "band of red". They also took a number of seats in areas considered Liberal heartland. Hawthorn, for instance, fell to Labor for only the second time ever and for the first time in 63 years. Bass elected a Labor member for the first time ever; the seat and its predecessors, Gippsland West and Westernport, had been in conservative hands for all but two terms since 1909.


2018 Victorian state election, Results, Legislative Council
* - Compared with results at 2014 election. The DLP went into the 2018 election with no Legislative Council seats after Rachel Carling-Jenkins initially defected to the Conservatives and eventually sat as an independent. ** - Compared with results at 2014 election. There was one independent at the dissolution of parliament after Rachel Carling-Jenkin's defections from the DLP and then the Conservatives.


2018 Victorian state election, Results, Legislative Council, Legislative Council seats table
Labor benefited from an enormous swing toward it and consequently picked up at least one seat in most regions, winning 18 seats. The swing against the Coalition in the lower house was replicated in the Council and they lost five seats to finish with only 11. Most of the minor parties were the beneficiaries of above-the-line voting, though Reason Party MP Fiona Patten was re-elected on the back of a strong below-the-line vote in Northern Metropolitan. The Greens were the biggest losers of the system, losing four of their five upper house members and only re-electing party leader Samantha Ratnam. Derryn Hinch's Justice Party was the biggest winner on the crossbench, picking up three seats, however the party's member for Western Metropolitan (Catherine Cumming) defected to sit as an independent prior to being sworn in. The Liberal Democrats won two seats.


2018 Victorian state election, Results, Legislative Council, Legislative Council seats table
Richard Willingham, the ABC News state political correspondent, described the result as proof of Labor's continued "dominance" of state politics, noting that "enough progressive parties [won] spots on the crossbench to potentially provide an avenue for any controversial legislation."


2018 Victorian state election, Key dates
Pursuant to the Electoral Act 2002, Victoria has had fixed terms, with all elections since the 2006 election held every four years on the last Saturday of November. The incumbent government entered into caretaker mode at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, 30 October 2018, when writs were officially issued.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, Legislative Assembly
Following the 2014 election, Labor formed majority government with 47 seats. The Coalition held 38 seats, with the Liberal Party holding 30 and the National Party holding 8. On the crossbench, the Greens held 2 seats and Independent Suzanna Sheed held the seat of Shepparton.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, Legislative Council
Following the 2014 election, Labor held 14 seats; the Coalition held 16 seats (14 Liberal, 2 National); the Greens held 5 seats; the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party held 2 seats; and the Sex Party (now the Reason Party), Democratic Labour Party, and Vote 1 Local Jobs party held 1 seat each.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, By-elections
Former Nationals leader Peter Ryan announced his resignation from parliament on 2 February 2015, triggering a by-election in the seat of Gippsland South for 14 March. The election was won by Danny O'Brien of the National Party.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, By-elections
Denis Napthine and Terry Mulder resigned from parliament on 3 September 2015. Their seats were retained by the Liberal Party in by-elections held in South-West Coast and Polwarth on 31 October.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, By-elections
Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence Fiona Richardson died on 23 August 2017. A by-election was held in the seat of Northcote on 18 November, in which the Victorian Greens won the seat from the Labor Party.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, Changes in parliament
Don Nardella, the former Deputy Speaker of the Assembly and member for the seat of Melton, resigned from the Labor Party on 7 March 2017 to sit as an independent. Nardella's resignation was demanded by Premier Andrews after Nardella refused to pay back approximately $100,000 of taxpayer funded entitlements in the midst an expenses scandal. The resignation reduced the number of Labor members in the Assembly from 47 to 46, still above the 45 seats needed for majority government to be formed. Nardella had previously announced his intention to quit politics at the 2018 election and following his resignation from the Labor Party stated he intended to serve out his full term as the member for Melton.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, Changes in parliament
Russell Northe, the member for Morwell resigned from the National Party on 28 August 2017, due to mental health and financial issues, continuing in his position as an independent.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, Changes in parliament
Greg Barber resigned as Leader of the Greens and from his Northern Metropolitan Region seat on 28 September 2017, and was replaced in both by Moreland councillor Samantha Ratnam.


2018 Victorian state election, Previous parliament, Changes in parliament
Colleen Hartland, a Greens member of the Western Metropolitan Region, resigned on 8 February 2018, and was replaced by Huong Truong.


2018 Victorian state election, State of electorates
The following Mackerras Pendulum lists seats in the Legislative Assembly according to the percentage point margin on a two candidate preferred basis based on the 2014 election results. The Australian Electoral Commission considers a seat "safe" if it requires a swing of over 10% to change, "fairly safe" seats require a swing of between 6 and 10%, while "marginal" seats require a swing of less than 6%.


2018 Victorian state election, Registered parties
At the close of nominations, there were 23 parties registered with the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), of which 21 contested the election:


2018 Victorian state election, Candidates and retiring MPs
Nominations of candidates opened on 31 October 2018. Nominations for party candidates closed on 8 November, and for independent candidates on 9 November.


2018 Victorian state election, Candidates and retiring MPs
A total of 887 candidates nominated for the election, down from 896 at the 2014 election. There were 507 candidates for the Legislative Assembly, the second-highest number on record, down from 545 in 2014. The 380 candidates for the Legislative Council was the highest number of upper house candidates in a Victorian election, up from 351 in 2014.


2018 Victorian state election, Candidates and retiring MPs, Disendorsed candidates
On 13 November, Neelam Rai, a Liberal candidate for Northern Metropolitan Region, withdrew her candidacy after the Herald Sun revealed that she was the director of an unregistered charity, No Hunger Australia. The Liberal Party also released a statement saying that Rai's nomination form for preselection had "failed to disclose a number of issues of relevance".


2018 Victorian state election, Candidates and retiring MPs, Disendorsed candidates
On 15 November, the Liberal Party withdrew its endorsement of Meralyn Klein, their candidate for the marginal seat of Yan Yean, after footage emerged of her speaking in an anti-Muslim video produced by the Australian Liberty Alliance. Klein denied any association with the ALA, saying she had been interviewed about an incident where she had been assaulted several years earlier, and the footage had been provided to the ALA and edited into an anti-Muslim video.


2018 Victorian state election, Candidates and retiring MPs, Disendorsed candidates
As ballot papers had already been printed, both Rai and Klein appeared as Liberal candidates. The Labor Party petitioned the Supreme Court to order the VEC to reprint the ballot papers with Klein's affiliation removed, but the case was dismissed.


2018 Victorian state election, Candidates and retiring MPs, Disendorsed candidates
On 22 November, two days before Election Day, the Greens ordered a then-unnamed candidate to withdraw from the campaign after an allegation of "serious sexual misconduct" was made. The following day the party revealed the candidate in question was Dominic Phillips, candidate for the seat of Sandringham; he was stood down by the party. As the ballot papers had already been printed, Phillips stood as the Greens candidate and won over 8% of the vote.


2018 Victorian state election, Issues
On 28 October both Labor and the Coalition launched their campaigns, with Labor making health, paramedics and improved ambulance response times a priority, while the Coalition focused on cutting taxes, better managing population growth and cracking down on crime. Labor and the Coalition pledged $23.3 billion and $24.8 billion respectively, more than double pledged during the 2010 and 2014 elections, excluding the proposed Suburban Rail Loop and high speed rail for regional services which would require future governments to fund.


2018 Victorian state election, Issues
Labor pledged to invest substantially more money than the Coalition in health, with $1.3bn in promises to boost nursing numbers and $395.8m to provide every state school student with free dental check-ups and procedures and $232m to build seven new early parenting centres; in contrast to the Coalition whose signature health policy was constructing a new hospital in Warragul, the biggest city in the rapidly expanding West Gippsland region.


2018 Victorian state election, Issues
The Coalition's leading message of the campaign was to "get back in control" of the state's allegedly burgeoning crime problem. The party promised tougher bail conditions than Labor, saying that anyone who breaches bail will be jailed. In addition mandatory sentencing would become more commonplace, with minimum sentences for repeat violent offenders and people deemed possible terror threats could be forced to wear electronic monitoring devices, a proposal made after the stabbing attack in the city which occurred during the campaign.


2018 Victorian state election, Issues
The divisions between the parties over social issues were pronounced, as the Coalition promised to axe the safe injecting room in Richmond, the Safe Schools program for LGBTI children in state secondary schools and the process for a formalised treaty for Indigenous Victorians; programs all initiated by the Labor Government. The Coalition also promised to reinstate religious instruction classes in state schools, something removed from classes and made an opt-in process by Labor.


2018 Victorian state election, Issues
Arguably the most pressing issue of the campaign was public transport and infrastructure. Melbourne's record population growth of more than 125,000 people a year made both party leaders focus on big transport initiatives. Labor unveiled a $50 billion underground rail loop of the suburbs surrounding the city, though admitted the project would not be completed before 2050 and actually pledged $300 million for a business study. The Coalition instead proposed a $19 billion "European-style" regional rail network that would rebuild the entire network and include high-speed rail on four lines, travelling up to 200 km an hour. Both parties agreed on the West Gate Tunnel, North East Link and Metro Rail projects, though the Coalition pledged to bring back the defunct East West Link project which was scrapped at a cost of $1 billion by the Labor Government.


2018 Victorian state election, Issues
Minor party the Greens sought to expand their numbers in parliament and make further gains in inner-city/suburban seats held by Labor such as Albert Park, Brunswick and Richmond. The party proposed a dedicated bike "superlane" stretching 17 kilometres from Elsternwick railway station to Coburg, as well as further cycling routes connecting Box Hill and Richmond, Ringwood and Croydon and a connection from the Burwood Highway through to Knox and Deakin University.


2018 Victorian state election, Issues
Overall, most Greens policies were more closely aligned with Labor policies than the Coalition, a fact acknowledged by Greens leader Samantha Ratnam who said she would seek to negotiate with Labor to form government in the event of a hung parliament. Labor leader Daniel Andrews reacted negatively to this possibility saying "no deal will be offered" and criticising the Greens for allegedly "refusing to call out denigration of women", in reference to past sexist comments made by the Greens candidate for the seat of Footscray, Angus McAlpine.


2018 Victorian state election, Issues
The total number of people who voted early in the last two weeks of the campaign was 1,639,202, which made up 40% of the eligible voting population.


2018 Victorian state election, Polling, Voting intention
Polling that is conducted by Newspoll and published in The Australian is conducted via random telephone number selection in city and country areas. Sampling sizes usually consist of over 1200 electors. The declared margin of error is ±2.8 percentage points.


2018 Victorian state election, Polling, Voting intention
In the lead-up to the election, Poll aggregation site Poll Bludger placed the two-party-preferred vote for Labor at 53.5%, coupled with primary vote shares at 41.0% for Labor, 39.8% for the Liberal/National Coalition, and 11.1% for the Greens. Election Analyst Antony Green stated on the ABC's election coverage that the result was "four to five percent better than all the opinion polls, which is the most out I've seen opinion polls in this country"


2018 Victorian state election, Polling, Voting intention
The Liberal Party wrote in their campaign review that their data gathered in their internal research in marginal seats was "fundamentally wrong", which lead to resources and campaigners being diverted from marginal Liberal-held seats to "target "Labor" seats on the false assumption that "[the Liberal Party] had already won [Liberal held] seats".


2018 Vienna stabbings
On 7 March 2018, two stabbings occurred in Vienna, Austria during the evening. A man has been arrested for both attacks. On 11 March 2018, there was a separate stabbing attack at the Embassy of Iran in the city. The Austrian government hardened its asylum policy after the attacks.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Events, Attack in Leopoldstadt
At 7:45pm, a family was attacked by a man outside a Japanese restaurant in Leopoldstadt, central Vienna, using a knife, three individuals in a family group were injured. At 8:15pm, suspect stabbed a Chechen immigrant drug at the Praterstern train station. An Afghan man, carrying two knives, was arrested. A blood trail lead the police to his hideout.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Events, Attack in Leopoldstadt, Suspect and motive
Although initially unclear if the two incidents were connected, the arrested 23-year-old man admitted attacking the family earlier in the night, though claimed that the attacks were not politically motivated. The suspect allegedly attacked the family because of his "bad, aggressive mood" and frustration about his whole life situation. A 67-year-old father received life-threatening injuries, the 56-year-old wife and the 17-year-old daughter were seriously injured. The suspect said that he committed the attack on the second man, a 20-year-old, because he made him responsible for his drug addiction.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Events, Attack in Leopoldstadt, Suspect and motive
The assailant arrived in Austria in 2015 European migrant crisis.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Events, Attack in Leopoldstadt, Suspect and motive
On 10 March, media reported that the suspect had already been convicted of drug trafficking in 2016 and obtained three months of conditional detention. That was confirmed by the police. The day before, the authorities had confirmed that the man had been in prison from August to December 2017 - also for drug trafficking - in Klagenfurt.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Events, Attack in Leopoldstadt, Suspect and motive
On 12 March 2018 ORF reported, that the suspect had tried to commit suicide while in detention.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Events, Attack in Leopoldstadt, Investigation
The Austrian Interior Ministry launched an investigation to determine possible mistakes made by the authorities regarding a possible earlier deportation of the suspect. On 15 March the Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl spoke of a communication problem between the involved bodies, which led to the release of the convicted perpetrator.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Events, Attack on Embassy of Iran
On 11:30 pm on 11 March 2018, an Austrian soldier was attacked with a knife in front of the Iranian embassy in Vienna which he guarded. The soldier was stabbed repeatedly, and injured, but his life was saved by the stab-proof vest he was wearing. The attacker was shot dead. Security was stepped up at diplomatic missions across the city, because the police feared that other people may have been involved in the attack. A police spokesman said, that the soldier was only saved by a stab-proof vest: "They started a fight because the aggressor was too close and the soldier shot him at least four times with his handgun." The attacker’s home was searched and his internet activities were reviewed.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Events, Attack on Embassy of Iran
The perpetrator was a 26-year-old Austrian of Egyptian origin. Authorities said, he sympathized with radical Islamist ideology, but the exact motive was subject to further investigation.


2018 Vienna stabbings, Reactions
The Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz commented at the Leopoldstadt case: "It is clear that many mistakes have been made in recent years in the migration and asylum policy. Unlimited migration is the cause of many problems we are currently facing. Therefore, the new Federal Government wants to fix these mistakes of the past years."


2018 Vienna stabbings, Reactions
In the Profil magazine, the Afghanistan expert Sarajuddin Rasuly stated on the Leopoldstadt case: "Some refugees from Afghanistan came as criminals or became it during their journey. Between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey they went stealing or trafficking for the smugglers. Some young men were even raped by them. When they arrive in Austria, they are dehumanized and no longer conform to the norms of a functioning society. They have lost the threshold for violence."


2018 Vienna stabbings, Impact
On 13 March the Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl announced that Austria will change its asylum policy because of the incidents in the recent days, saying: "We need courageous approaches... The current asylum law will no longer meet the demands of a globalized world." The Austrian government intends to use the EU Presidency in the second half of the year to win alliances in Europe on this issue. In addition, he announced that he wants to improve the system of Rückkehrberatung (return counseling) for asylum seekers.


2018 Vietnam National Futsal League
It was the ninth season of the Vietnam Futsal League, the Vietnam professional futsal league for association football clubs. This season is hold by VFF and VOV Channel. The main sponsorship of this season are HD Bank and Cityland.


2018 Vietnam National Futsal League, Rule changes
In this season, there are 2 stages. At the end of the First stage, 4 of 6 teams will be qualified to the Second stage, where we have 10 teams (6 automatic qualifications and 4 qualifications). The champion will be qualified to AFC Futsal Club Championship, while the runner-up will be qualified to AFF Futsal Club Championship.


2018 Vietnam National Futsal League, First stage
All matches are held in Tiên Sơn Arena, Đà Nẵng from 1 May 2018 to 9 May 2018.


2018 Vietnam National Futsal League, Second Stage
Matches of the first leg are held in Tiên Sơn Arena, Đà Nẵng from 13 May to 3 June 2018. Matches of the second leg are held in Lãnh Bình Thăng Gymnasium, Hồ Chí Minh City from 7 September to 29 September 2018.


2018 Vietnam Open (badminton)
The 2018 Vietnam Open (officially known as the Yonex-Sunrise Vietnam Open 2018 for sponsorship reasons) was a badminton tournament which took place at Nguyen Du Cultural Sports Club in Vietnam from 7 to 12 August 2018 and had a total purse of $75,000.


2018 Vietnam Open (badminton), Tournament
The 2018 Vietnam Open was the sixth Super 100 tournament of the 2018 BWF World Tour and also part of the Vietnam Open championships which had been held since 1996. This tournament was organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Badminton Association with the sanction from the BWF.


2018 Vietnam Open (badminton), Tournament, Venue
This international tournament was held at Nguyen Du Cultural Sports Club in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.


2018 Vietnam Open (badminton), Tournament, Point distribution
Below is the point distribution table for each phase of the tournament based on the BWF points system for the BWF Tour Super 100 event.


2018 Vietnam Open (badminton), Tournament, Prize money
The total prize money for this tournament was US$75,000. Distribution of prize money was in accordance with BWF regulations.


2018 Vietnam floods
In 2018, Vietnam was struck by several different deadly floods.


2018 Vietnam floods, June northern Vietnam floods
On 23 June, floods started across the country. The flood waters have receded from the northern mountainous provinces of Lai Chau, Ha Giang and Lao Cai while several towns and villages were inaccessible. 23 people were confirmed dead in the floods: in Lai Chau 16 were killed, 5 in Ha Giang Province while two others in other provinces. An estimated VND530 billion ($23.2 million) of damage was recorded in Lao Cai, Ha Giang and Lai Chau and over 80 houses had been destroyed and over 700 hectares of rice fields damaged.


2018 Vietnam floods, Tropical storm Son-Tinh
On 21 July, floods triggered by heavy rains hit the northern part of the country after tropical storm Son-Tinh made landfall in northern coastal areas, killing 27 people and wounding 14, while 7 others were declared missing. Also, 17,000 animals were killed, 82,000 hectares of crops were damaged and 5,000 houses were destroyed.


2018 Vietnam floods, August northern Vietnam floods
On 1 August, two children and a man drowned as new floods has overflowed one bank of the Bui River, engulfed several villages and threaten to submerge parts of Hanoi. On 3 August, floods triggered landslides in Phong Tho, Lai Chau that killed six people, injuring two and leaving five others missing.


2018 Vietnam floods, September northern Vietnam floods
On 2 September, floods started again across northern provinces of the country. As of 4 September, at least 14 people were confirmed dead, mostly in Thanh Hoa, while four others are declared missing. Also, 375 houses were damaged and 661 cattle killed.


2018 Vietnam floods, Tropical Storm Toraji
On November 16, a tropical disturbance formed east of Vietnam and strengthened into a tropical-depression. Toraji made landfall on November 18 . Toraji caused flooding in Nha Trang, resulting in 19 dead and a damage of ₫396 billion (US$17.2 million).


2018 Vietnam floods, Typhoon Usagi
On November 25, Usagi made landfall in Mekong Delta as a severe tropical storm. The typhoon caused flooding in Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Binh Thuan, killing three people. Losses in Vietnam were at ₫347 billion (US$15 million).


2018 Vietnam floods, December central Vietnam floods
Torrential rains triggered heavy flooding and landslides in central provinces of Quang Tri, Da Nang, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai causing deaths of at least 7 people. In 24 hours, Da Nang received a record rain level of 635 mm, the highest since 1975.


2018 Vietnam protests
The 2018 Vietnam protests, or Protests against the Special Zone Act and the Cybersecurity Law (Vietnamese: Biểu tình phản đối Luật đặc khu kinh tế và Luật An ninh mạng), are a series of both violent and nonviolent protests that erupted across Vietnam in June 2018, chiefly in response to two drafted pieces of legislation: the Special Zone Act and the Cybersecurity Law.


2018 Vietnam protests
The Special Zone Act (also known as the Special Zones Law or the Special Economic Zones Law) proposes the opening of three special economic zones (SEZs) across Vietnam, where foreign investors would be allowed to lease land for up to 99 years. Despite no specific mention of China within the lines of the bill, many Vietnamese feared that the SEZs would be dominated by Chinese investors, fueling anti-Chinese sentiments. On 9 June 2018, the Vietnamese authorities eventually yielded under enormous public pressure and postponed voting on the law indefinitely.


2018 Vietnam protests
The Cybersecurity Law seeks to give the government full authority to strictly police the Internet, scrutinize personal information, censor online discussion, and punish or even jail online dissidents. It has been described as “largely a copy-and-paste version” of the Chinese Cybersecurity Law that commenced a year prior. The National Assembly of Vietnam passed the law on 12 June 2018 despite local and international opposition and it has been in effect since 1 January 2019.


2018 Vietnam protests, Context, Protest culture in Vietnam
To mainstream media and many nongovernmental organizations, Vietnam is often perceived as harsh and uncomprimising regarding the right to freedom of assembly. Reports from Human Rights Watch and the US State Department depict the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) as extremely illiberal and unforgiving of political dissent of any kind.


2018 Vietnam protests, Context, Protest culture in Vietnam
Freedom House’s report on Vietnam in 2020 scores the country at 1 out of 4 for freedom of assembly, specifically citing the arrests and convictions as a result of the 2018 protests as the reason for its score, and 0 out of 4 for freedom for nongovernmental organizations and trade unions or similar professional organizations. Amnesty International also reports harassment, assault, prosecution, torture, and executions towards pro-democracy activists, independent journalists, authors, and publishers in its Vietnam 2020 review. According to Human Rights Watch, in April 2018 the chief judge in Hanoi sentenced political activists to 7 to 12 years of imprisonment each under Article 79 of the Criminal Code for political activism.


2018 Vietnam protests, Context, Protest culture in Vietnam
Scholars and observers of Vietnam, however, have a different outlook. Many agree that the country has actually been exercising a responsive-repressive strategy since the 1990s, taking certain measures to show its responsiveness and tolerance to criticism from its citizens and exercising repression only as a last resort. Political scientist and Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University Ben Kerkvliet found that Vietnamese citizens “frequently and publicly” spoke out in criticism of their living and working conditions, most often through thousands of strikes, occasionally with thousands of participants each.


2018 Vietnam protests, Context, Protest culture in Vietnam
His 2019 book Speaking Out in Vietnam: public political criticism in a communist party-ruled nation showed how government officials were in reality often sympathetic to workers’ demands, accommodating to concerns with land confiscation, and even to some extent tolerating calls for democratization that threatened the ideology of the regime. Some regime critics were not detained at all; many were confined for brief periods but never imprisoned; those who were convicted faced shorter lengths of imprisonment compared to past decisive crackdowns and repressions.


2018 Vietnam protests, Context, Past anti-China protests in Vietnam
Although public demonstrations are not common in Vietnam, anti-China protests has occurred on numerous occasions and are met with a balance of responsiveness and repression by the state, albeit with extra caution given the addition of an external party – China, no less – into the state-society relationship in Vietnam.


2018 Vietnam protests, Context, Past anti-China protests in Vietnam
Among the Vietnamese populace, anti-China sentiments act as a converging space for their dissatisfaction with a variety of social issues in the country such as unfavorable labour conditions, environmental pollution, socio-economic development, and foreign policy. Placing China as a ‘common enemy’ thereby acts as a linkage between these social groups with mutual encouragement and reinforcement of these sentiments. Post-Cold War, and especially since 2010, the sharpest crises and ensuing anti-China protests in Vietnam have involved public outrage over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.


2018 Vietnam protests, Context, Past anti-China protests in Vietnam
In May 2011, for instance, a Chinese maritime vessel cut the cables of a Vietnamese ship conducting research operating in Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea, and hundreds in Vietnam took to the streets for over three months in sustained protest. Demonstrators in Hanoi sang patriotic songs, chanted slogans, and carried banners and flags, including a Chinese flag digitally altered to include a pirate’s skull and crossbones. Public anger flared up even more intensely in 2014, when China deployed Haiyang Shiyou 981, a giant oil rig in an area of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam. This incident triggered large-scale anti-China demonstrations with thousands of participants that quickly turned violent. Protesters set fire to industrial parks and factories, hunted down and sparred with Chinese workers, and attacked police during the confrontations, leaving at least 21 people dead and nearly 100 injured.