Cradle of Venezuelan ruling party prepares for election re-run

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza speaks at the press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting in Moscow, Russia June 22, 2021. Yuri Kochetkov/Pool via REUTERS

BARINAS/CARACAS (Reuters) - Voters in Barinas, a sparsely-populated province in eastern Venezuela that has been controlled by the ruling Socialist Party for more than two decades, will return to polling places on Sunday to cast ballots in a do-over gubernatorial election.

The result of the re-run ordered by the supreme court will not upset ruling party control over a majority of governorships, but could be a symbolic victory for the fractured opposition in the home state of the late socialist President Hugo Chavez, analysts said.