The vice president of the PSUV, Diosdado Cabello, during his program, Con el Mazo Dando. Photo: Con el Mazo Dando.
Following the far-right Unitary Platform’s (PUD) registration of Edmundo González Urrutia as their “cover” candidate for the presidential elections, the first vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, has commented on who might replace this “provisional” candidate of the far-right opposition.
During the broadcast of his program Con el Mazo Dando, Cabello first talked about what a “cover candidate” means, and how it is defined in the Venezuelan legal system. He explained, reading from Electoral Law, that a “cover” candidate may be replaced by someone who has already been nominated before the National Electoral Council (CNE).
“You apply first, and that application is admitted or not, it’s that simple. Some people don’t get to apply, because the machine tells them they’re not allowed,” said Cabello, clarifying that if a person was not registered, they could not be a substitute for the “cover” candidate, because otherwise, the CNE would have to open another registration process.
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According to the CNE electoral schedule, between March 21 and 25 were the deadlines to register candidates for the presidential elections on July 28. Between March 28 and April 1, the CNE will announce the final admission of those registered, following an in-depth evaluation of their credentials and legal background.
From April 1 until the 20th, the CNE will open the process to allow for change of candidates. Therefore, during this time, the Unitary Platform will have to reach a consensus to change its “cover” candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, and decide who it will finally support for the presidential elections.
Edmundo González Urrutia was registered in an extension of time granted by the CNE to register a candidate in the early hours of Tuesday, March 26, since they were not able to reach an agreement on the candidate who would be nominated within the established period.
Therefore, to replace their “cover” candidate, the PUD has the option of 12 candidates who already registered to participate in the elections.
The 13 candidates are: Nicolás Maduro, Javier Bertucci, Juan Carlos Alvarado, Manuel Rosales, Antonio Ecarri, Jose Brito, Daniel Ceballos, Luis Eduardo Martínez, Claudio Fermin, Benjamin Rausseo, Luis Ratti, Enrique Marquez, and Edmundo González Urrutia.
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Despite Cabello’s interpretation, a reading of Art. 64 of the Organic Law of Electoral Processes might leave the door open to other interpretations. “Article 64. The substitution of a candidate constitutes a new registration and, consequently, when the substitute candidate is not previously admitted, they must comply with the requirements established in this Law and its Regulations,” reads the article in question.
A detailed reading of this law and its regulation performed by the Orinoco Tribune does not clarify the meaning of “comply with the requirements established in this law and its regulations,” thus not making clear the interpretation announced by Cabello.
During the program, Cabello also implied that all the controversy around Corina Yoris, initially appointed by María Corina Machado in an alleged unanimous decision with all the forces belonging to the Unitary Platform, was the result of internal fights within the Unitary Platform and not, as many believe, a result of a Chavista restriction over Yoris’s candidacy that might have been exacerbated by the CNE opacity in handling the process and the far-right media campaign against them.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
