María Corina Machado was proclaimed this Thursday, October 26, opposition presidential candidate for the 2024 elections in Venezuela. The proclamation occurs despite the judicial attack promoted by the Government of Nicolás Maduro against the National Primary Commission (CNP), which was in charge of organizing the opposition consultation and against which the Prosecutor’s Office announced an investigation for “fraud.” and usurpation of functions of the National Electoral Council.
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In the opposition primaries on October 22 in Venezuela, María Corina Machado won with 92% of the votes. A process in which, according to figures from the National Primary Commission (CNP), more than 2.3 million people participated to choose between 10 candidates to rival the official candidate in the 2024 presidential elections.
“Today we proclaim our unity candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, María Corina Machado, and we extend our congratulations,” said the president of the commission, professor and expert in Constitutional Law Jesús María Casal, who assured that “a new path that demands inclusion, preservation and broadening of the broad political and social movement that was generated around the primary.”
The consultation with the opposition bases was carried out on Sunday, October 22, amidst obstacles that the opposition itself has denounced, such as censorship, the lack of information in the media, the computer blockade of the Primary Commission platform and Internet failures. , which delayed the sending of data for the count.
The result of the primaries also generated uncertainty, given that Machado, chosen as the opposition presidential candidate for the 2024 elections, was disqualified from holding public office for 15 years.
Prosecutor Tarek Williams Saab reported on Wednesday, October 25, the opening of an investigation against the president and vice president of the National Primary Commission, Jesús María Casal and Mildred Camero, for fraud, usurpation of electoral functions, identity theft, legitimation of capital and criminal association.
According to Saab, the CNP assumed exclusive powers from the National Electoral Council (CNE), which was initially invited to provide technical assistance. However, the renewal of CNE authorities delayed the achievement of an agreement for this collaboration to materialize.
Saab’s statement came hours after several pro-government leaders, including President Nicolás Maduro and the head of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, criticized the opposition’s internal consultation and questioned the participation figures validated by the Commission. National Primary.
“What happened on Sunday is not verifiable, that was not even an election,” Rodríguez said at a press conference this Tuesday, October 24, explaining that the number of polling stations installed did not allow more than one million people to vote.
Threat to the Barbados agreements?
The opposition coalition Democratic Unitary Platform issued a statement on Wednesday in support of the Primary Commission, in which it warned that the actions of the Maduro Government and the powers it controls could represent a breach of the consensus reached on October 17, in the Negotiation and Dialogue Table that met in Barbados, with the mediation of Norway.
On that occasion, the United States, which is accompanying the process, agreed to a temporary lifting of oil sanctions against the Venezuelan Government, which in exchange promised to advance an electoral schedule, release some imprisoned politicians and review the disqualifications against several representatives. of the opposition, among them Machado.
For the Unitary Platform, the recent actions of the Government and the powers under its control could lead to the activation of the “verification and monitoring mechanisms provided for in the Barbados agreement.”
Last April marked ten years since the election of Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela in the elections called after the death of Hugo Chávez.
After a first term in government, Maduro was re-elected in 2018 in the presidential elections with the lowest participation in Venezuela, with little representation of the opposition and whose conditions generated rejection from several countries.
With EFE and AP
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