The ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) proclaimed this Saturday (16) the country's dictator, Nicolás Maduro, as its candidate for the presidential elections on July 28, in which he will seek his third term in office, in a process marked by persecution and disqualification of opponents.
The first vice-president of the PSUV, Diosdado Cabello, considered Chavismo's number two, handed the formation's banner to Maduro, after speeches by six supporters who showered the dictator with praise.
“Despite all the adversities, [Maduro] managed to maintain peace in this country, doing politics, defeating the oligarchy, not once, but many times”, said Cabello, who claimed that a total of 4,240,032 PSUV militants supported, in previous assemblies, that the dictator, in power since 2012, try a second consecutive “re-election”.
The thousands of supporters who gathered at the Polyhedron of Caracas, the largest covered venue in the country, responded affirmatively when asked whether they approved Maduro's nomination “as a candidate of the PSUV and the Bolivarian revolution” for the July elections.
After that, Cabello stated that Maduro was approved by acclamation as a presidential candidate, and that he will be registered as such before the National Electoral Council (CNE), which opened a period, between March 21st and 25th, for the presentation of candidacies.
Taking the microphone, after waving the PSUV flag, Maduro thanked them for their support and promised to fight to win the elections.
“There is only one destination: popular victory. Whatever they do, whatever they say, they were not and will never be able to defeat us”, he shouted.
The Venezuelan dictator – who won his first re-election in 2018 with 6.2 million votes, in elections questioned by the international community – will run, now aged 61, without it yet being clear who his opponents will be.
On the part of the majority opposition, former deputy María Corina Machado, who won the primaries in October last year, hopes to run, despite having been disqualified from holding public office by decision of the Comptroller General of the Republic, which will prevent her from register your candidacy with the CNE.
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