publish time

06/03/2024

author name Arab Times

publish time

06/03/2024

National Electoral Council (CNE) President Elvis Hidrobo Amoroso waves to the press at the National Electoral Council headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela on March 5. Amoroso announced that Venezuela's presidential election will take place on July 28. (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela, March 6, (AP): Venezuela’s highly anticipated presidential election will take place July 28 - the birthday of the country’s late fiery leader Hugo Chávez - officials announced Tuesday, plowing ahead with a tight campaign season that deepens doubts over the participation of the opposition’s leading candidate as well as of international observers.
President Nicolás Maduro is widely expected to run for reelection. His government initially negotiated details of the election with a faction of the opposition backed by the United States government, but differences between the sides have grown over the past two months.
The date announced by National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso did, however, meet at least one opposition demand that the election be held in the second half of the year.
When that broad timeframe was agreed upon by Maduro and his adversaries in October, the intervening months were meant to allow campaigns to mobilize, officials to update voter rolls, and international electoral observers to plan and deploy a mission.
Crucially, the October agreement, signed in the Caribbean island of Barbados and focused on conditions meant to level the playing field for the 2024 election, also called on both sides to "promote the authorization of all presidential candidates and political parties” to participate in the election as long as they comply with the law.
But in January, the country’s top court ratified an administrative decision banning Maduro’s strongest adversary this year, Maria Corina Machado, from running for office.
Amoroso, under his previous capacity as the country’s comptroller, signed the announcement of Machado’s ban from office last summer. He did not address her candidacy during his nationally televised announcement Tuesday, just four days after lawmakers proposed to the ruling party-loyal National Electoral Council more than 20 possible options, ranging from as soon as mid-April to as late as December.
Last month, the opposition’s chief negotiator, Gerardo Blyde, said the group favored a December vote.
David Smilde, an expert on Venezuelan politics at Tulane University, said Maduro’s government seeks to thread the needle with the July 28 date, fulfilling enough the Barbados agreement to keep it alive "while pushing on the opposition to try to get it to split or abstain.”