The Venezuela elections are scheduled for later this year after the Nicolas Maduro regime agreed with a coalition of opposition parties on national elections in Barbados last year. However, Nicolas Maduro is back to his old tricks again and is not making this year's elections as free and fair as he had promised.

Thanks to Maduro's usual trucks of not making the elections fair as he runs, Venezuela, which is already in the middle of a socio-economic crisis, is risking further sanctions from the US, which recently only lifted several sanctions against the country after Maduro agreed for free and fair elections. The US government recently reinstated some of those sanctions, particularly against Venezuelan oil and mining.

3 Tactics Nicolas Maduro Does to Undermine Opponents as Venezuela Elections Approach

As an autocrat, Nicolas Maduro employs plenty of tactics so that he wins the election and stays in power, even as Venezuelans are suffering extreme poverty and hardship, forcing many to flee the country, many of whom try their luck by going to the United States.

Overwhelming Political Repression

The last time Venezuela truly held democratic elections was in 2015, which was for its parliament. In that election, the Venezuelan people overwhelmingly rejected Maduro and voted for the opposition, which soon gained control of the National Assembly as a check and balance to Maduro's executive power.

However, after the opposition won the National Assembly, Maduro worked to undermine the opposition's constitutional authority. He created a rival and illegitimate Constituent Assembly that, according to the OAS, was "filled with Maduro loyalists," He also had the Supreme Court restrict the powers of the National Assembly.

The move led not just the United States but the OAS to denounce the Maduro regime, which has been accused of undermining the country's democratic system to keep Maduro in power and plunge the country into an economic crisis.

Election Irregularities

With Maduro getting more power and the opposition repressed, the presidential election happened in 2018. However, Maduro may have tried his best not to repeat the results of 2015, and he has since been accused of cheating.

According to DW, several countries like the US and organizations like the OAS and EU have reported that the 2018 elections had a "lack of adherence to the rule of law" and a "lack of judicial independence" as the courts sided with Maduro's regime regarding protests to election results.

There was also a "disproportionate" amount of favorable coverage to Maduro and his allies in state-run and private media channels. As a result, many countries did not recognize the result of the election, which resulted in a "landslide" victory for Maduro.

Imprisoning or Disqualifying Election Opponents

This one is front and center of what is currently happening in Venezuela, as opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado has been banned from holding public office while Maduro's own Justice Ministry is imprisoning her staff members over an alleged assassination attempt against the Venezuelan dictator.

According to the Associated Press, over 30 people have been arrested over the alleged plot since January. Among those arrested are Machado's campaign staffers, members of various police, military and civic groups, and other opposition politicians.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Resistance and Repression in Venezuela - BBC Newsnight