With 26.06% of the votes counted, María Corina Machado collected 93.13% of the votes and emerged as the clear winner of the opposition primary elections in Venezuela, held with high expectations on October 22. The opposition candidate is currently disqualified by the Government of Nicolás Maduro from holding public office and reversing that measure is one of the conditions of the United States to lift sanctions on Venezuela.
First modification:
3 min
Neither the rain nor the long hours of waiting managed to deter Venezuelan voters.
After months of negotiations, the independent body of the National Primary Commission (CNP) overcame obstacles to organize, on October 22, the elections that would unite the opposition behind a single candidate. They were the first primary elections since 2012 and voters could choose between nine profiles.
Now it is expected that María Corina Machado can confront the ruling party in the presidential elections and eventually end a decade of Nicolás Maduro’s government.
“Today is not the end, but it is the beginning of the end,” declared Machado after learning the preliminary results. “Venezuela has broken down all barriers and this has been a citizen avalanche that has united our country,” he added.
Indeed, although as of Monday there are no consolidated official data, the organizers of the primaries were pleased with the high participation rate, which exceeded expectations. The three million ballots that had been printed were sold out before the end of election day.
The meeting took place largely without incident until around 10:30 p.m., Jesús María Casal, president of the CNP, announced the blocking of one of the servers used to count votes, which caused a delay in the issuance of the results. . The organization accused a form of censorship, but it is expected that they will be able to provide more information about the votes and the number of voters throughout Monday.
All registered voters in Venezuela could participate in the elections. Citizens went to the polls in different parts of the country and also outside it, from 28 other locations.
“This is unprecedented,” said María de los Ángeles León, the voting station coordinator in Mexico City. “People know that there are no guarantees that the winner of this primary will be able to advance to the presidential election, but we keep trying,” she stated.
Uncertainty ahead of the presidential elections
The Government agreed to organize presidential elections in the second half of 2024, although an exact date has not yet been given. However, the head of the government delegation for dialogue with the opposition, Jorge Rodríguez, reiterated that María Corina Machado’s disqualification was not going to be lifted.
The candidate has been charged with this penalty since June by the Comptroller General of Venezuela, and cannot run for popularly elected positions in the next 15 years. A measure that Human Rights organizations have interpreted as efforts by the Government to reduce the opposition.
Negotiations between the ruling party, the opposition and the White House come into play on stage. The United States gave the Venezuelan government until November to reverse the disqualifications of political opponents in exchange for maintaining the temporary lifting of economic sanctions.
For now, the holding of the primary elections, which involved the cooperation of a fractured opposition, is considered a first step forward for the ailing Venezuelan democracy.
With EFE and AP
#María #Corina #Machado #swept #opposition #primaries #Venezuela