Preliminary results of Venezuela's parliamentary elections on Monday show the opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (DUR), has won 99 of the 167 seats in the national assembly, and thus the election, while the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) took 46 seats.

The opposition claimed that the DUR will take 112 seats, or a two-thirds majority ultimately, which means that the party will be able to rewrite former President Hugo Chavez's 1999 constitution, and bring sweeping political changes to the nation.

The election has posed a great challenge to the country's left-wing President Nicolás Maduro. Some in parliament have even started discussing starting the process to oust him.

Some Western media think the election is "a blow to Socialism." Following the setback of center-left ruling party in Argentina's presidential election two weeks earlier, the impression that Latin America's left has started to ebb is reinforced.

However, Venezuela's socialism and the Chinese understanding of socialism are different. For example, Chinese people stick to the basic principles including Communist Party leadership, Marxism and the dominance of the State-owned sector in the national economy. In the meantime, the socialism Chavez initiated in the country was based on fairness, idealism, and a goal of national policy, yet was far from implemented systematically.

Chavez-style socialism has apparently encountered setbacks, but it is still too early to tell whether it completely failed. The fundamental reason why many Latin American countries turn left is because of the problems brought by neo-liberalist reform. Latin Americans were forced to explore their national road under huge challenges.

All left-wing parties in the region have come into power through elections, with great expectations from society toward reform.

They have brought changes, but they failed to capitalize on the achievements by the reforms. Venezuela has been experiencing severe economic recession over the past few years, while inflation has risen to 150 percent.

It seems that no matter which country it is, or what kind of goals or plans there are for social development, if there is economic depression, the country's political and social structure will be hard-hit, and a turbulent situation might emerge.

Going forward, the DUR will need to be innovative, because it will be hard to go back to the old path. Venezuela's citizens are already tired of capitalism, that's why they embraced Chavez.

Latin American countries have in the past made tremendous achievements in economic development, but have experienced difficulties later on.

Long-term social divisions can hardly lead to stable strategies of social development. A new wave of unrest seems to be breaking over the continent.