The freedom of parties to nominate their candidates is a basic principle to ensure the true representation of citizens’ interests and the expression of diversity of opinions in electoral processes.
On March 10, the National Electoral Council (CNE) confirmed on its website that the elections Opposition candidate Democrat, elected almost unanimously in primaries, Maria Corina Machado “Represents a prohibition on the exercise of a public office or function.” Given the confirmation of this arbitrariness, Machado and the political forces of the unitary program, with the aim of staying within the electoral process, decided unanimously to elect the university professor. Corinna Uris As a new presidential candidate for the democratic opposition forces. However, the Maduro regime again arbitrarily prevented democratic opposition organizations from freely choosing their unified presidential candidate.
A new mechanism to limit electoral guarantees and freedoms
Elvis Amoroso, who until a few months ago held the position of Comptroller General of the Republic, and who was responsible for the unconstitutional removal of María Corina Machado, now serves as President of the National Electoral Council (CNE), created in The opposition nominates its legitimate candidates.
In clear violation of the National Constitution and the Barbados Agreement, Amoroso imposed within the electoral calendar for the upcoming presidential elections a complex nomination mechanism to allow the regime of Nicolas Maduro to obstruct the candidacy of the democratic opposition candidate, this time without the need to make any offer. Some kind of legal argument, nor any kind of explanation.
Amoruso created a double filter to prevent the opposition from being nominated. The first consisted of removing (17/03/24) from the electoral ticket more than five political parties associated with the democratic opposition, and limiting the possibility to only two political organizations of the democratic opposition: MUD and un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT). to nominate a candidate. The second requires candidates, as a basic condition for submitting their applications, to access the electronic portal of the electoral register and complete the registration form using party cards made available by the National Electoral Council. It was then necessary to come personally to the CNE headquarters to submit the application documents.
By Monday the 25th, the last day for applications, ten candidates, including Maduro, were able to register with the National Electoral Council without any problems. However, the MUD and un Nuevo Tiempo were not allowed access to the CNE's order system. They even tried to do so in person at the National Election Center, but were denied access to the headquarters. This prompted the “Democratic Unionist Platform” to issue a statement in which the world condemns this arbitrariness and demands an extension. This request was not heeded.
With only a few minutes left before 12 midnight, the closing time for the application process, the Governor of Zulia and the head of the Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) party said, in a surprising manner, Manuel RosalesAccompanied by some members of his party, he submitted his application to the headquarters of the National Electoral Council, and was registered as a candidate for the National Union of Workers and the Forza Vicenale party.
María Corina Machado maintains her support for Lloris and does not support Rosales' candidacy. On Tuesday the 26th of this month, Maria Corina Machado held a press conference to express her position on the events during the application process.
During his intervention, Machado denounced the regime’s prevention of the unitary platform from registering Professor Corina Llores. He stressed that many people felt ridiculed, and stressed the importance of not underestimating this fact, but rather taking it as a lesson. “Betrayal teaches us,” he said. In his opinion, the country has the right to know what happened these days, especially during the past 24 hours.
Likewise, Machado noted, “What we have been warning about for months has finally happened: the regime has chosen its candidates.” He said that if Maduro chooses the opposition candidates, it cannot be considered an election.
For the leader of Fente Venezuela, “the regime has shown its true face with its partners.” He stated that the real opposition was more united than ever before and wondered whether the international community would endorse what happened.
Machado reiterated that his candidate remains Professor Llores and that she will continue to fight for free elections in Venezuela: “No one will derail us from the electoral process, they are the ones trying to derail us and they will not succeed.”
The dilemma of the unitary platform
These recent events have put the other parties on the unionist platform before a decisive dilemma: should they continue to support Corina Llores and fight for real elections, as María Corina Machado asserts, or take advantage of the registered candidacy of Manuel Rosales and try to reach election day at any cost?
Internal deliberations between the parties will be complex. It will be debated, for example, to what extent staying on the electoral path entails accepting all the traps and arbitrariness of the Maduro regime, and whether this ultimately jeopardizes not only the possibility of winning but also risks legitimizing the regime. regime. Likewise, it will be explored to what extent unity can still be maintained.
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