Venezuela votes for a new political landscape as jailed opponents freed

Ecstatic opposition leaders vowed to use their new majority in Venezuela’s legislature to free jailed opponents of the Socialist government, but also said they would not move to dismantle popular welfare policies.

The opposition Democratic Unity coalition won more than twice the number of National Assembly seats as the Socialists in elections that punished President Nicolas Maduro’s government for the country’s deep economic crisis.

It was the first time in 16 years the “Chavismo” movement, named for former President Hugo Chavez, lost its majority in the 167-member assembly, and gives the opposition a platform to further erode Maduro’s power in the oil-rich nation.