Venezuela: the Electoral Council bans the opposition María Corina Machado from registering in the elections

The National Electoral Council (CNE), dominated by the Chavista regime, officially on its website closes the door on María Corina Machado register your united candidacy of the Venezuelan opposition and be able to compete in the early presidential elections of 28 July in Venezuela.

According to the electoral calendar announced last week, the registration of candidates will have to take place between March 21st and 25th. The prohibitive measure is a blow to the opposition candidate, whose leadership and the fury in the streets grows like foam and deepens the uncertainty.

At the foot of the Permanent Electoral Registry of the CNE in the data of María Corina Machado a note appears that says “this reader is prohibited from holding public offices or functions, as required by current constitutional and legal provisions.” The page can be accessed with the person’s identity document number.

Machado’s 15-year ban from holding public office was arbitrarily issued by the Office of the Comptroller General in July last year and ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice in January (in Venezuela all powers are controlled by the Chavista regime).

Machado, the favorite in the polls

Despite the veto, the liberal leader Machado, who is the favorite presidential candidate in the polls (her numbers are triple those of Nicolás Maduro), elected in the opposition primaries on October 22 with 92% of the votes, Last week he ruled out the possibility of choosing another person to replace him due to the disqualification which he considers unconstitutional.

“Listen to me carefully, those who talk about a substitute, I have a surprise for you, yes, here there is a substitute, the one who will replace Nicolás Maduro, who is me”, he then said in front of dozens of fans in the state of Barinas, home of Hugo Chavez.

María Corina claims it He has a mandate to fulfill like the one who voted for her in the primaries to overthrow Maduro. He also calls for a strong international reaction against the veto on his candidacy.

Given Barbados’ failure to comply with the Accords and the disqualification of María Corina, the U.S. Government decided to reinstate economic and oil sanctions against the Chavista regime which will come into force in April. In fact, the license for the marketing of Venezuelan gold, of the Minerven company, was canceled last month.

For registration at the CNE, the opposition candidate called for massive support events in the 23 regional electoral centers of the CNE and in the main capitals of the world, possibly on March 21st. It’s a real challenge.

For his part, Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking his third re-election, is confident that the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) will nominate him as its candidate before March 15 for the July 28 elections.

The Chavista regime has brought forward the electoral calendar 4 months, violating national laws that establish a minimum of 6 months of preparation.

To make elections tailor-made for him, Maduro It has allowed the registration of more than 20 candidates who neither overshadow nor compete with it. He disqualified major opposition candidates such as María Corina and Henrique Capriles and intensified repression against the opposition. He imprisoned 4 members of María Corina’s electoral teamand the activist Roció San Miguel arrested. Nor did it release the 270 political prisoners.