María Corina Machado's Electoral Abstentionism Suffers Another Setback

By Misión Verdad – Feb 12, 2025

The Venezuelan opposition party Movement for Venezuela (MPV), led by José Simón Calzadilla, announced its participation in the elections scheduled for April 27 in Venezuela, in which governorships and National Assembly deputies will be elected.

Accompanied by Andres Caleca, MPV’s former candidate in the opposition primaries of October 2023, Calzadilla announced that his party conducted a consultation at its various levels and national secretariats which concluded that MPV would join the electoral route.

The MPV is a party that belongs to the opposition coalition Unitary Platform for Democracy (PUD) and is one of the three parties that supported former candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, the self-proclaimed “president-elect” in exile.

Turning the page
A few months ago, far-right politician María Corina Machado had criticized political leaders and parties for their intention to “turn the page” on the July 28 presidential election. She accused “certain sectors” of “normalizing” the political situation and not concentrating on “enforcing” the false electoral result that supposedly gave González as the winner.

After the failed mobilization of January 9 and the planned “swearing in” of González that did not happen, Machado accentuated her aggressive narrative to impose electoral abstention. On January 20, she called upon political leaders and parties not to participate in the next elections in the country “if Edmundo González cannot take charge as the president first.”

However, in the last few days, several politicians and traditional parties of the opposition have shown themselves in favor of participating in the April 27 elections.

Among them are Henrique Capriles and Manuel Rosales, governor of Zulia and leader of Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) party who had also supported González.

Like Rosales, three other governors and a group of right-wing National Assembly deputies have expressed their intention to run for re-election, while other parties of the emerging opposition—comprising new small parties of the “Democratic Alliance”—aspire to compete in the upcoming elections.

So far, it is notable that two of the three parties that supported González have distanced themselves from Machado’s strategy.

Other “parties,” such as the faction of Democratic Action (AD) aligned with Henry Ramos Allup, are saying that they are in “consultation” with their members to consider participating. Apparently, the April election is still attractive even for this group.

The general political climate among the oppositions suggests the existence of discussions among the various formations, in a clear challenge to Machado’s abstentionist line.

PSUV Sets Date for Pre-Candidate Selection Amid Upcoming April 27 Elections

Change of context and other variables
The political context of the Venezuelan opposition has changed considerably in recent weeks.

Since January 20, when Machado officially announced her abstentionist agenda, it was expected that she would have enough leadership weight to paralyze the politics of anti-Chavismo and impose her decisions. Despite the debacle of January 9 and 10, the extremist sector was confident that Trump’s return to the White House would tip the balance towards “maximum pressure” 2.0 and frontal support for regime change in Venezuela.

But then significant events occurred, such as the meeting between Donald Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell and President Nicolás Maduro, which suggested a—at least momentary—pragmatic change of approach in Washington’s policy towards Caracas. Since then, the negotiating gestures have not stopped and have even gone as far as the US government’s recognition of “improvements” in certain conditions of life in Venezuela.

Grenell’s visit disorganized the plans of the opposition sector represented by Machado and González, changing considerably the variables of the moment.

Now, several leaders of the PUD seem to be assimilating the current scenario in a pragmatic and adaptive manner. For them, it makes no sense to opt for militant abstentionism and to follow María Corina Machado’s failed destructive strategy, based on uncertainty and destabilization.

Clearly, Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, is trying to maintain its “timing” while its leadership is deteriorating vertiginously.

On the other hand, for other politicians, the times are very different. They know that the positions up for grabs in the April elections are for four years for governors and five years for the National Assembly. Abstentionism would imply a very long period out of the electoral arena; therefore, they consider that their decision is about their survival or death in politics.

The abstentionist strategy has played a large part in the deterioration of the opposition’s political organizations on the ground, especially in the interior of the country. Several politicians and parties have come to recognize the ravages of abstentionism in 2017, 2018, and 2020. The decision of MPV to renounce that route responds precisely to this scenario.

Opposition leaders in the interiors of the country believe that they have opportunities to be reelected or to win positions, and they do not want those aspirations to be frustrated by the unilateral decisions of Machado and González, who do not have their feet in the ground in the real exercise of politics and have also lost relevance in the external front.

For the parties, decision-making is a race against time. It is expected that, according to the electoral schedule, by the end of February the nomination process of candidates and political parties and groups will begin, which forces the leaders to speed up their selections and formation of possible alliances.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/SC/DZ