The Venezuelan opposition will choose its presidential candidate on October 22

The Electoral Commission of the Primaries of the Venezuelan opposition Unitary Platform (PUD), has announced the date of the primary elections which will be next October 22, to elect the only candidate of the opposition who will face Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 presidential election.

The presentation of the program took place in a mass act at the Hatillo amphitheater, near Caracas, and was attended by the ten members of the electoral commission, the parties of the Unitary Platform, civil organizations, trade unions and trade unions, of the student and youth movement and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in the Caribbean country.

In principle, the electoral calendar foresees that the appointments and the swearing-in of the regional electoral commissions take place from 28 February to 19 March; invitations to national and international observers will be sent from 21 to 24 April; from 8 to 23 May the registration of candidates; from 24 May to 23 June the publication of the regulations and the nomination of candidates; from 22 August to 20 October the electoral campaign and 22 October the day of the elections.

“The cards are thrown away and there’s no turning back,” President Jesús María Casal specified in his speech. “We do not respond to the instructions or interests of any political factor of the PUD or external to the PUD. We act as impartial arbitrators and autonomous of this process”, he underlined.

The mechanism

The commission was appointed at the end of last year. Their delay in announcing the primary schedule was due to the extensive consultation process with various civil organizations and technical advisors, which amid the hostile and repressive environment of Nicolás Maduro in which they had to work, is already a feat who arrived to announce the terms and conditions of the trial.

“Now the primaries are of the civil organization. Civil society belongs to this process. The primaries are a space for regional councils to participate and witnesses,” Casal said.

Referring to the 7.2 million Venezuelans who emigrated, he said so voters will be able to vote abroad. “We want young people to register on the electoral register and have reasons to stay in the construction of the Venezuela we want, to be happy and not leave,” she said brokenly because her two children live abroad.

Casal also referred to the need for the Maduro government to allow the National Electoral Council (CNE) the facility of polling stations to vote in the primaries. 3,000 polling stations are neededregistration and updating for new voters for whom the CNE has signed a technical commission with the opposition commission.

The mere possibility of the CNE intervening in the opposition primaries has generated disagreement on the part of some pre-candidates such as María Corina Machado, who announced that will not participate in the elections if the CNE enters the process.

The candidates

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To respond to the controversy, Casal said: “If it is not possible to have the electoral centers in these conditions, a completely self-managed primary will be organized”, he warned. He also stated that they keep their accompaniment to young people in requests for special election registration days.

A large number of opposition candidates, consultancies and opinion polls are already playing ahead of the opposition’s race for Maduro’s candidates. about twenty politicians there are about six who stand out in the proposals of social networks.

Favorites in digital polls such as former MP María Corina Machado, Juan Guaidó, Manuel Rosales, Henrique Capriles, compete with pre-candidate Benjamín Rausseo, the postulate of Chavismo known by the nickname of “El Conde del Guácharo” who has been photographed with Maduro’s narco-nephews and who doesn’t have the shame to be the ruling party’s pawn in opposition elections as long as its bank accounts swell.

The electoral commission worked hard without receiving any professional compensation amid adversity and lack of resources. The Maduro government has approved the anti-NGO law to prevent the primaries from receiving any donations from international organizations to meet the costs of the opposition elections.

The primaries of the Venezuelan opposition will be the great birth of civil society and not of the political parties that have long been beaten, bought and manipulated in the last 23 years, if Chavismo and Madurismo let them continue.