Venezuelan opposition leader Enrique Ochoa Antich has strongly criticized the G4 coalition of the extreme-right opposition after the G4 made public that it would be discussing the implementation of a regulation for primaries.
During an interview on Primera Página on Monday, February 21, Ochoa Antich stated that it would be “a very serious mistake” if the G4 elects a candidate for the 2024 presidential elections without discussing it with all the other opposition factions.
“It seems to me a very serious mistake that these four parties, and the other smaller ones that congregate around them, which only obtained 40% of the votes in the November 21 elections for governors and mayors, behave as if it was ‘their way on the highway,'” remarked the veteran politician.
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In his opinion, if the G4 insists on continuing on this path, it would be decreeing in advance the rupture of the opposition for the 2024 elections. It would also have another collateral effect, as “it would reduce the incentives for the government and the PSUV to return to the negotiating table.”
For Ochoa Antich, an opposition that has the “capacity to win the 2024 presidential elections” would be the only thing that could convince the government to return to the dialogues.
“Only a credible democratic threat which conveys that the opposition is capable of winning the 2024 presidential elections could make the authoritarian regime give up some of its positions and prepare to discuss the terms of its participation in the political transition that could then begin,” he commented.
Ochoa Antich warned that if G4 follows the same path that it had taken during 2018-2021, it would translate into a new victory for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela [PSUV]. Hence, they should not claim fraud “if the PSUV wins again due to the clumsiness of the opposition [such as the electoral abstentionism in 2018 and 2020 and the internal divisions in 2021. “Do not complain, or blame the CNE, or denounce another fictitious fraud,” he said.
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“In my capacity as another member of the opposition, who has no partisan affiliation,” stated Ochoa Antich, “I ask you [G4] to immediately suspend discussions on regulations for the primaries. Instead, set up a dialogue table among the main opposition factions, not to claim total political and programmatic unity, which seems unlikely, given the differences that have emerged between us and the wounds we have inflicted on each other but to agree on a methodology that makes possible, a simple and popular electoral alliance for 2024.”
He urged the G4 to hold “open primaries between January and February 2024, without any exclusion, and with two rounds.”
Featured image: Former deputy Juan Guaidó (left) of Voluntad Popular and Acción Democrática’s Henry Ramos Allup (right), both belonging to the G4, announced primary mechanism for 2024 presidential elections, a move strongly criticized by Enrique Ochoa Antich. File photo.
(Últimas Noticias) by Ariadne Eljuri
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/GMS/SC/EF
