Venezuela: Despite the disqualification, María Corina Machado challenges Chavismo and will register her candidacy for president

This is supported by María Corina Machado, the opposition’s favorite candidate will register for the presidential elections on July 28 despite the veto imposed on him by the government of Nicolás Maduro. And his candidacy will take place from March 21st to 25th in a major national and international event.

The Maduro government has announced the calendar of early presidential elections on July 28, with which narrows the deadlines for registering new voters and candidates as established by Venezuelan laws, thus preventing clean and competitive elections.

Elvis Amoroso, president of the official National Electoral Council (CNE), reported the details of the electoral calendar for the presidential elections. Voter registration and updating, both domestic and international, will open from March 18 to April 16. The submission of applications and registration of candidates will take place between March 21 and 25 (5 days only) and the respective campaign will start on July 4 and end on July 25.

Reactions to the Chavista regime’s electoral proposal have been varied. Maduro said on his X account: “The CNE has spoken and we say amen, let’s go to the presidential elections. “I am sure that the people will achieve a new victory.”

While María Corina Machado, banned by the regime from holding public office for 15 years, while touring the Andean region, asked for “serenity and firmness” in her rally in Mérida when the regime announced the date of the elections.. “Here there will be clean and free elections”.

“Free elections depend on us and our reaction will be stronger,” he added.

María Corina assured that the Maduro government is afraid of the elections because it knows they will be “swept away”. “Everything that happens in Venezuela in the next decades will depend on what we do in the next few days.” You reminded us that the future of Venezuela is in our hands. “God could not choose better men and women than these who are here.”

Previously, the opposition candidate had declared to the local press: “I will register and face a competitive presidential election. The other option that Maduro has is to send everything to hell, Barbados is finished and will take the consequences that this implies,” despite the arbitrary ban that Maduro issued to her.

Enthusiastically, former interim president Juan Guaidó, from his exile in Miami, declared on his X account that “There is already a date. On March 21, all of Venezuela accompanies our unitary candidate to register with the CNE.”

According to Guaidó, the inscription of María Corina involves a national and international mobilizationin the penultimate week of March in all 23 regional headquarters of the CNE and in the main cities of the world, such as Madrid, concentrations of commandos and opposition commanders will be organized to accompany the nomination of the candidate of the united opposition.

Violation of the Constitution and Barbados

Analysts point out that the announced electoral calendar violates deadlines and regulations for a minimum of six months established by the national Constitution to organize moderately reliable elections. By custom, elections are held in the first week of December.

And the deadlines of the tender do not leave time to allow the more than 3 million new voters can register and update their new residence for the 8 million Venezuelan migrants in the diaspora.

The Barbados agreements, signed last October by the Maduro government and the opposition represented by the United Democratic Platform (PUD), were also violated. Opposition negotiator Gerardo Blyde reported 8 violations of the pact to the mediator of the Kingdom of Norway.

“This escalation, far from being reversed, has continued to increase,” reproached Blyde of the opposition bloc that has been in dialogue with representatives of the Maduro government since 2021, alluding to the accusation of conspiracy against human rights activist Rocío San Miguel, who was arrested last year, on February 9, together with the three members of María Corina’s command.

Blyde explains in detail: “The Barbados agreement established that a path had to be established that would quickly enable presidential candidates. The precedent with precautionary protection is accepted in the Manuel Rosales case with the admission of the appeal.”

His Chavista counterpart, Jorge Rodríguez, said the new electoral calendar should be adopted “is in accordance with the Barbados agreements”.

The reaction of politicians

Before the election date, Juan Pablo Guanipa, member of the Primero Justicia and the PUD coalition, underlines that Maduro “knows that he is not alive. He knows that in a decent enough election Maria Corina Machado will give him an astronomical beating. For this reason he disqualifies her and for this reason he announces the elections for July 28th.”

In his opinion, “Chavismo violates the spirit of the Barbados Agreement. In five months we cannot completely eliminate the Electoral Registry (ER), register the three million people of voting age who are not in the RE, guarantee the vote of Venezuelans abroad, or form an international observation mission. Chavismo knows that we Venezuelans want them out of power. They know that we want to make up for the lost years they condemned us to. This is why they disqualify, this is why they imprison those who oppose them., that’s why they put this date. But it doesn’t matter how many traps they want to set for us. “Maduro, this year we will get you out of Miraflores with votes,” she said.

Alfredo Ramos, leader of Causa R, said this. The fight is fought and that day will be remembered as the day of the burial of “socialism of the 21st century” with the defeat of Maduro”.

While former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles raised the possibility of replacing María Corina with another opposition candidate, recalling the Barinas case in the regional elections. But the advanced calendar leaves no time to prepare another application.