The Venezuelan municipal elections of 2017 were held on 10 December 2017, to elect 335 mayors throughout Venezuela, as well as the governor of the state of Zulia. This was the first municipal election held since 2013, when elections were delayed from 2012 following the death of Hugo Chávez. The election resulted in many members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (the PSUV, created by Hugo Chávez) being elected as heads of municipal governments throughout Venezuela. Irregularities Elections delay Controversy arose surrounding whether the election would be held or not, as the National Electoral Council (CNE) had not determined a date only two months ahead of the expected date, with some believing that this was due to the belief that if elections were held, the ruling party, the PSUV, would suffer one of its largest losses in over a decade. On 18 October 2016, the head of the CNE, Tibisay Lucena, stated that regional and municipal elections would not be held until mid-2017, stating the delay was due to an "economic war" and low oil prices. Government sources cited by Reuters stated that the true reason for the delay was the hope that higher oil prices might raise the popularity of the PSUV. In May 2017, after approving President Maduro's plan for a National Constituent Assembly Tibisay Lucena announced that elections for representatives to redo the constitution would take place in late July, and that municipal elections would not be held until 10 December 2017, despite the fact that the National Constituent Assembly would choose its members based on decisions by the current municipal governments, which had held a PSUV majority since 2013, giving the upcoming municipal elections no chance to influence the new constitution. Relocation of voting centers On 2 December 2017, Súmate denounced the relocation of 169 polling stations, including in the Chacao and Libertador municipalities, with Táchira State having the most changes, with 27. Francisco Castro, director of Súmate, indicated that 106 voting centers were relocated and the remaining 63 were migrated to existing stations. He added that the most affected states with regard to voting center relocations were Mérida and Aragua, with 15 each, Miranda, with 13, Táchira and Zulia, with 12 each, and Carabobo, with 9. Voting centers were relocated by the pro-government National Electoral Council (CNE) citing security reasons, despite the fact that the 2017 Venezuelan protests ended after the Constituent Assembly election.