(Caracas) The presidential election in Venezuela will take place on July 28, the National Electoral Council decided on Tuesday. Head of State Nicolas Maduro is expected to announce his candidacy for a third term, but the name of the opposition candidate remains unknown.
July 28 is the date of birth of former President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), who died on March 5, 2013 and whose “Chavista” heritage Mr. Maduro claims.
Government and opposition agreed in October in Barbados to organize this election during the second half of 2024 in the presence of international observers.
This agreement, under the aegis in particular of Norway, mediator in the negotiations, also opened up to those “aspiring to run” the possibility of contesting their ineligibility in court. The opposition hoped that this procedure would allow its champion, Maria Corina Machado, declared ineligible by the courts, to finally be able to present herself.
But the Supreme Court, accused of being at the behest of those in power, confirmed on January 26 the ineligibility of the woman who had won the Venezuelan opposition primary in October, receiving more than two million votes and 92%. votes.
No elections “without me”, launched after his sentence to 15 years of ineligibility Mme Machado who persists in wanting to introduce himself.
For Norway, it is “fundamental” that the Barbados agreement applies.
On Tuesday, without officially confirming his candidacy, Mr. Maduro, 61, declared that the organization of the presidential election “scrupulously respected the negotiations and agreements”.
Applications can be submitted from March 21 to 25. The electoral campaign is scheduled for July 4 to 25, said the CNE.
“On March 21, all of Venezuela supports our united candidate,” said opponent Juan Guaidó, once considered interim president and now exiled in the United States, on the X network.
But Henrique Capriles, a two-time former presidential candidate and also disqualified, said on X: “We must in no case abandon the power of the vote” and “place the country above any personal interest”.
Mme Machado has not yet reacted to the electoral calendar, but for Luis Vicente Leon, director of the Datanalisis polling institute, “it is crystal clear that Maria Corina will not be a candidate” and that “she will not allow her candidacy to be replaced by someone she does not directly name.”
Russian ally
The Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the opposition champions was vigorously denounced by Washington, the EU and several South American countries.
At the same time, the United States announced that it would reactivate sanctions against Venezuela’s oil and gas sector, suspended for six months in the wake of the Barbados agreement.
Caracas, which has Moscow as an ally, immediately denounced American “blackmail”.
Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly expressed his support for Russian head of state Vladimir Putin before and after the start of the war in Ukraine.
Relations between Venezuela and Russia strengthened under the government of former President Chavez (1999-2013) who supported Moscow during the war in Georgia in 2008.
On February 20, during a visit to Caracas by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the two countries agreed to expand their oil cooperation and considered a “peaceful use of nuclear energy”.
Pre-campaign
A pre-election campaign atmosphere already reigns in the ranks of the ruling party. Mr. Maduro has started a series of trips to the provinces, which until now was the exception.
“The CNE has spoken, sacred word, and we say […] Amen […] I am sure that the people will once again give battle and achieve a great victory,” he declared Tuesday in Caracas.
Maria Corina Machado is also in the pre-campaign: last week she toured the eastern regions of Venezuela. This Tuesday, she is in Barinas, the native state of Hugo Chavez, won by the opposition following the 2021 gubernatorial election.
Other candidates, very far from the opposition which describes them as “collaborators”, have also announced their intention to run. Which, according to analysts, aims to divide the anti-Maduro vote.
Successor to Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro was re-elected in 2018 during a vote boycotted by the opposition and whose legitimacy more than 60 countries did not recognize.