21N Regional Elections: Diosdado Cabello Presents Report on Chavismo Nominations – Eduardo Samán Excluded – Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

At a press conference on Monday, September 6, Diosdado Cabello, first vice-president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), reported that 183,806 persons were nominated by the party’s bases to be candidacies for the regional elections of November 21. In this regard, he explained that all the candidacies of the Great Simón Bolívar Patriotic Pole (GPP) have already been registered with the National Electoral Council (CNE).

“All the nominated candidates of the Great Patriotic Pole are already registered, in all governorates, in all municipalities and in all municipal councils,” informed Cabello.

Youth representation and gender parity
Cabello highlighted that 45.7% of the candidates nationwide are young people. “We can do that because we have cadres throughout Venezuela,” he stressed.

Highlighting the organizational characteristics of PSUV, he stated that a majority of the candidates nominated are women; however, the party had to make some adjustments to comply with the requirements of the National Electoral Council.

“These results are only possible in the PSUV, there is no other organization that has this,” stressed the Chavista leader. “Look how the right wing is, everyone talking about unity, while we have completed the work on time. We were not asking the electoral body for more time.”

Opposition fight and dialogue victory
Cabello, who is also a deputy of the National Assembly, warned that there is a possibility that the opposition may cry “fraud” after the local and regional elections on November 21, in which the majority of the anti-Chavista bloc is participating. Regarding this, Cabello showed that the oppositions are showing numbers favorable to themselves in comparison with PSUV.

“What do we expect from the opposition?” Cabello raised the question. “Let them sing fraud on the 21st, that is what I really expect, that on the 21st (November), when the Bolivarian Revolution wins, they will come out saying ‘they cheated me, they cheated me.’”

Mentioning the case of the opposition candidates for the governorship of Miranda state, where both of the two pre-candidates are claiming to have won the primary, Cabello commented that given these fights, the opposition must have an overbooked agenda because they cannot agree among themselves.

Similarly, Cabello mentioned that the electoral issue was discussed during the first meetings of the current dialogue between the government and the opposition (Mexico Talks), which has opened the way for the participation of the majority of the parties.

Likewise, he expressed that Chavismo unquestionably supports the dialogue process held in Mexico, where it has been made clear again that the Constitution has triumphed.

PCV/APR Eduardo Samán excluded
On Tuesday morning, many PCV/APR sympathizers along with right-wing influencers and media flooded social media platforms with the hashtag #Saman. Eduardo Saman is a respected Chavista who was minister of commerce and production in President Chávez’s government for a few years. In 2017 he abandoned the PSUV platform and ran for the mayoral post of Caracas (Libertador municipality), representing the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV).

For the 21N regional elections, Eduardo Samán was postulated by the PCV/APR (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria) platform to run as candidate for the mayorship of Caracas (Libertador municipality). On Monday, he expressed indignation through his Twitter account that his nomination had been rejected by the National Electoral Council (CNE) under Condition 8, meaning there are objections by the Supreme Court (TSJ) or the Comptroller’s Office.

De sábado a domingo me INHABILITARON PARA EJERCER FUNCIONES PUBLICAS, según página de @cneesvzla, dice que tengo que dirigirme al TSJ o a la Contraloría. Qué indignación!!! @PCV_Venezuela @APR_Venezuela pic.twitter.com/iMrmFOG68S

— Eduardo Samán (@SamanEdu) September 6, 2021

On the same day, Samán posted another tweet with a document from the Comptroller’s Office informing him that he has a regular status in the system and no record has been imputed into the system under his name.

A political analyst told Orinoco Tribune that “Eduardo Samán is a well respected politician, and this unconventional incident put a dark and unnecessary cloud over the regional elections that are just about to start.”

Declaro públicamente, que todos los pocos bienes que tengo están declarados ante la CGR, no poseo bienes no declarados. Inmorales todos, ahora pretenden enlodarme para socavar mi principal fortaleza. pic.twitter.com/jj8rp4C6K7

— Eduardo Samán (@SamanEdu) September 7, 2021

“I was among the over 40 thousand Venezuelans who voted for him [Samán] when he last ran for mayor of Caracas in 2017, and I was undecided about voting again for him or for the PSUV candidate Carmen Meléndez,” he added. “With this incident I feel less tempted to vote for a PSUV candidate.”

Eduardo Samán got only 6.4% of the votes in 2017, obtaining fourth place in the mayoral election that year. Most analysts consider that his chance of winning in the November 21 elections is very limited; however, there are others who opine that in a polarized mayoral race between Chavismo (PSUV) and the extreme right opposition, a second Chavista (PCV/APR) option might affect the chances of victory of Chavismo (PSUV).

An official statement by the Comptroller’s Office and/or the Supreme Court is being awaited, and there is still a chance for making changes in the candidacies in the framework of the CNE schedule.

Featured image: Diosdado Cabello at a press conference, accompanied by the PSUV board of directors. Photo courtesy of RedRadioVE.

(RedRadioVE) by Daniela Jiménez, with Orinoco Tribune content

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/SC