Hugo Chavez’s party, the Movement for the Fifth Republic, won 117 seats out of the 165 in the National Assembly, a majority of 68% in the new national election, with the remainder of seats won by parties that are allied with the MVR. The reason for the success is due to a boycott of Venezuela’s five major opposition parties: Accion Democratica, Copei, Proyecto Venezuela, and Primero Justicia, claiming that the Assembly itself, and the National Electoral Council, are biased and therefore a true election is not possible. The European Union had over 160 election observers, as did 60 from the United Nations, and have reported no misconduct, however. In the words of one Central American election observer: “democracy is for those that choose to participate.”