Parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela on 25 May 2025 to elect the 285 deputies of the National Assembly. The elections took place during the ongoing political crisis within the country, and were not expected to be free or fair. Official results showed that the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) of President Nicolás Maduro retained its majority in the National Assembly and won 23 of 24 state gubernatorial elections. This election was the first to be held by Venezuela in Guyanese territory that it claims.
Electoral system.
The 285 members of the National Assembly are elected using a parallel voting system, with 149 seats elected by closed list proportional representation (with seats allocated using the d'Hondt method) and 136 seats elected by plurality block voting in 87 constituencies.
The election was originally set to be held on 27 April. However on 19 February 2025, the National Electoral Council moved the election date to 25 May, saying that it was needed to "facilitate and promote the participation of different actors" in the electoral process.
Background.
On July 28, 2024, Nicolás Maduro declared victory in 2024 Venezuelan presidential election. According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), Maduro secured more than 51% of the vote, beating the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) candidate, Edmundo González, who only had 44% of the vote. The elections were not considered free and fair, mostly because they took place in an environment in which the Maduro controlled all branches of government and suppressed political opposition by jailing opposition leaders, disqualifying them from running for office or intimidating voters. María Corina Machado and other opposition figures said that Maduro government lost any claim to legitimacy after the flawed 2024 elections and his refusal to relinquish power. They said that 2025 election will also be illegitimate, especially amid ongoing political repression, arrests of opposition leaders, and widespread human rights abuses.
In 2025, opposition politicians called for a boycott of the election. María Corina Machado said that participating in "a farce imposed by Maduro is to disregard the mandate" given by voters to the opposition following the disputed 2024 Venezuelan presidential election. Edmundo González said holding the election was "unviable" and "contradicts the mandate expressed by Venezuelans at the polls" in the previous year. Experts warned that the boycott could play "into the hands of the administration", saying that an opposition boycott of 2020 parliamentary elections allowed Maduro's coalition to regain parliament. 
A poll from the Center for Political and Government Studies found that only 15.9% of Venezuelans plan to vote in the elections. 74.2% of them said they would vote for Nicolás Maduro, while 13.8% said that they would vote for Manuel Rosales or Henrique Capriles. 27.4% of the people not voting in the elections said they did so because of the lack of trust in the CNE, while 23.9% said that voting no longer makes a difference. Another 14.4% said that they are not voting because it might undermine the protests against alleged fraud in the 2024 presidential election.
On May 19, 2025, the Venezuelan government announced that it thwarted an alleged terrorist plot to attack voters with bombs and other weapons during the election on May 25. The government said that it arrested 21 Venezuelans and 17 foreigners who were allegedly planning to violently sabotage the elections. The government also said that it confiscated their phones to find out the origins and financing of the attack. In a televised speech, Maduro said that Albanian mafia and Colombian drug traffickers are responsible for the plot and that they were sent from Ecuador. He called them "mercenaries" and said the judiciary would take "necessary legal steps" against them. Vice president Diosdado Cabello said that he cancelled all flights from Colombia “until further notice” to prevent future attacks from happening. Cabello also said that the attack was sponsored by "certain far-right actors". Later, leading opposition politician Juan Pablo Guanipa, was arrested for allegedly masterminding the plot. He was charged with conspiring to sabotage the election, overthrow Maduro and damage the Venezuelan power grid. He was also charged with terrorism, money laundering and incitement of violence.
Campaign.
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), approximately 6,000 people ran for different popularly elected positions from 36 political parties. 285 deputies of the National Assembly, 24 governors, and 260 regional legislators were elected.
This election was the first of its kind to be held in Guayana Esequiba, a disputed region between Venezuela and Guyana. Eight seats in the National Assembly were assigned to Essequibo. Oliver Rivas will be running in the region on behalf of the Great Patriotic Pole, despite him and other candidates being prohibited from campaigning there. The Guyanese government warned the inhabitants of Essequibo that participating in Venezuela’s elections could amount to treason, with the Chief of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Omar Khan saying that, beyond arrest, those voting in the election will face deportation. The CNE did not say how many of the Guyanese citizens will be eligible to vote in the election or how many ballot boxes will be transported to Essequibo. The International Court of Justice ruled that Venezuela is not allowed to hold elections in Essequibo, despite that, Nicolas Maduro said that they do not not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ and that it is illegal by international law for the court to “interfere” or “attempt to prohibit” an election.
In May 2025, María Corina Machado, leader of the PUD, called upon the people to boycott the election by not voting and urged them not to "legitimize a fraudulent process". Despite this, other opposition leaders, like Henrique Capriles and Manuel Rosales, have chosen to participate in the elections. Coalitions that include more than 20 opposition parties and organizations, have called their voters to participate in the elections. 
On May 22, the PUD announced that it will not participate in the elections, in a statement, it said: "We firmly reiterate that we will not participate in the event scheduled for May 25. We will not engage in political, social, or electoral activism related to this event, nor will we promote any type of boycott". The Unitary Platform has faced an internal struggle since one of its leaders, Omar Barboza, left the party due to "lack of unity". Another leader of PUD, Andrés Velásquez of the Radical Cause party, said that the PUD has parties which have policies "contrary to the decision of the majority", arguing that parties like Un Nuevo Tiempo and Movimiento por Venezuela should be expelled from the coalition. On May 25, PUD expelled Un Nuevo Tiempo and Movimiento Por Venezuela from the coalition, stating that they had "broken with the common roadmap" by registering in the elections. 
On February 18, 2025, the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) announced that it will not participate in the parliamentary or regional elections due to the lack of "electoral guarantees"; they accused the PSUV of rigging elections and declared that they will not participate in them as a protest. The Justice First party also announced on February 25 that they will not participate in the elections. Other parties, like Popular Will, also said that they will not participate, and that they will expel any member who runs without permission.
Results.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) said that turnout in the election was at 42.66%. It also said that the PSUV retained its majority in the National Assembly and won 23 of 24 state gubernatorial elections. According to CNE, PSUV won approximately 82% of total votes cast while other parties, affiliated with Great Patriotic Pole, won 6.25% of the vote. Opposition alliances won about 5.17% of the vote.