The Venezuelan opposition won a parliamentary majority in elections last weekend. While the government's defeat has been clear, the latest tally suggests that Democratic Unity coalition has mustered the two-thirds majority that will allow it to overrule President Nicolas Maduro. Given the commitment of Maduro and his supporters to the "Bolivarian Revolution" of his predecessor Hugo Chavez, even a supermajority may not be enough.

According to the latest tally by the election commission, the Democratic Unity coalition won 109 seats in the 167-seat assembly and the ruling Socialist party claimed 55; the other three are nonpartisan seats for indigenous representatives, and opposition says all three will join them, providing 112 seats, or a two-thirds majority that will allow the legislature to check and overhaul strongholds of Socialist power such as the courts and the electoral council. The coalition could even call a constitutional assembly to write a new national charter.

The opposition's victory reflects widespread discontent with Maduro's economic program. Venezuela has some of the world's largest oil reserves, but mismanagement brought about a collapse in the national currency — it has lost 97 percent of its value — along with inflation of 124 percent. Real wages have fallen 36 percent in the two years since Maduro took office. The International Monetary Fund forecasts a 10 percent contraction of the economy in 2015.