Luis Ratti, one of the candidates who withdrew from the Venezuelan presidential race. File photo.
After the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela extended for 72 hours—from April 20 to April 23—the time period for modification of presidential candidacies, some aspirants withdrew while their political parties declared their support for some other candidate. Consequently, the number of candidates reduced from 13 to 10. The CNE is soon expected to make announcements in this regard, with the final list of candidates for the July 28 presidential elections.
Candidates who withdrew
The first aspirant to withdraw was Manuel Rosales, current governor of the state of Zulia, who had been registered by his party Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) on March 25, the last date for nominations.
After Rosales withdrew from the presidential race, UNT declared its support for Edmundo González Urrutia, candidate of the far-right opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).
As a consequence, the Neighborhood Force party switched its support from Manuel Rosales to Antonio Ecarri, candidate of the Pencil Alliance.
Two more candidates, namely, Juan Carlos Alvarado, who represented the COPEI party, and Luis Ratti, who had been nominated by the Popular Right party, also withdrew.
Both announced their support for Democratic Action candidate Luis Eduardo Martínez.
Remaining candidates
The current president, Nicolás Maduro, is among the candidates still in the race for the July 28 elections. He was nominated by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), while many more parties also support him.
The remaining nine candidates are from the opposition, which include Luis Eduardo Martínez for the Democratic Action, Bandera Roja and Movimiento Republicano (MR) parties; Daniel Ceballos for the parties AREPA and Voluntad Popular Activista; Antonio Ecarri for the Pencil Alliance and Neighborhood Force parties; José Brito, for the parties Primero Venezuela, Venezuela Unida, and Unidad Visión Venezuela; Benjamín Rausseo, for his party National Democratic Confederation (CONDE); Javier Bertucci for El Cambio party; Claudio Fermín for the Soluciones party; Enrique Márquez for the Centrados party; and Edmundo González Urrutia for the MUD coalition.
(Últimas Noticias) by Juan Leonardo Lanz
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
