Venezuelan opposition manages to register provisional candidate | Venezuela

The twists and turns in the Venezuelan electoral process continue, as warnings from the international community grow that the presidential elections in July will take place in a free and fair manner. After seeing the registration of the alternative candidate banned, the anti-Chavista opposition managed to register a candidate after the deadline had passed.

Thanks to an extension of the deadline for registering candidacies for the presidential elections on July 28, the Democratic Unity Table (MUD), one of the largest parties that forms part of the opposition coalition, formalized the candidacy of diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, former ambassador in Algeria and Argentina.

The party explained that Urrutia’s candidacy is “provisional” and will be replaced as soon as there is a consensus among opposition parties around a unity candidate. The Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), which brings together the anti-Chavista parties, said that the decision aims to “guarantee the registration of the said candidacy so that we remain within the electoral route”.

Urrutia’s choice is just the latest attempt by the opposition to circumvent the succession of obstacles that Nicolás Maduro’s regime has placed on the path towards the elections. Without being able to formalize the candidacy of María Corina Machado, elected with two million votes in the October primaries, the opposition opted last week for academic Corina Yoris, an apparently safe choice as she is someone little known and with no past in public office.

However, the registration deadline ended on Tuesday without Yoris’ candidacy being able to be entered into the system, allegedly due to “technical failures”, according to electoral authorities controlled by the regime. Machado denounced Chavismo’s maneuver and assured that Yoris will be the candidate of the opposition coalition.

The electoral law allows candidates to be replaced up to ten days before the elections at most, although their name will not appear on the ballot papers if the change takes place less than three months before election day. This appears to be the PUD’s strategy, although there is still no guarantee that Yoris will be able to run.

The opposition still runs the risk of appearing divided, weakening its chances of defeating Maduro. On the last day of registration, the candidacies of Enrique Márquez, former president of the National Electoral Council, and Manuel Rosales, governor of the state of Zulia, were formalized, both linked to opposition parties, but who do not have the support of Machado. This Wednesday, Rosales showed his willingness to give up his candidacy in favor of a unity candidate.

The expectation that this year’s presidential elections would take place fairly and with guarantees of real competition seems to be increasingly frustrated. In recent weeks, several members of Machado’s campaign team have been detained or received arrest warrants.

The Argentine Government revealed that several opposition politicians sought refuge in its embassy in Caracas and expressed concern about “acts of intimidation and persecution against political figures in Venezuela”.

Maduro, in turn, has toughened his speech against his political opponents, accusing them of being puppets in the service of the USA and of planning his assassination. The situation is radically different from the less tense environment created by the negotiations between the Government and the opposition that a few months ago had laid the foundations for a way out of the political and institutional crisis that has been dragging on in Venezuela for almost a decade.

Maduro’s offensive against the opposition is causing concern among several countries in the region, including governments like the Brazilian one, which until recently defended diplomatic normalization with Caracas. A letter signed by several leaders from the American continent highlights the “serious concern” regarding the “persistent impediments” in the registration of candidacies in the presidential elections.