Far-right opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia (left) and far-right politician MarĂa Corina Machado at the opening of their electoral campaign, July 4, 2024. Photo: Ariana Cubillos/AP.
By MisiĂłn Verdad – Jul 4, 2024
The electoral campaign for the Venezuelan presidential elections of July 28 began officially on Thursday, July 4, following the schedule of the National Electoral Council (CNE) finalized and published in March.
One may look at the pre-campaign period of the last few months in order to take stock of how some political sectors are preparing to participate in the presidential race. It is also useful to project scenarios based on what the politicians have said to attract their voter bases.
Since late last year, a sector of the opposition has been claiming that their victory is already assured and that Venezuela will experience a “democratic transition” after July 28. In order to “take care” of the supposed victory, they have said ad nauseam that they have a “perfect” electoral machinery, organized in comanditos or local campaign commands, each made up of a minimum of 10 people and “essentially” integrated by the bases, ready for all the voting centers that will be set up on the election day.
These comanditos led by the far-right opposition party Vente Venezuela are also assumed to be shock groups to challenge Chavismo during and after the elections. In theory, the comanditos would create conditions of “citizen security” in the voting centers.
It is assumed that since they are associated with the NGO SĂşmate, created by Vente Venezuela leader MarĂa Corina Machado in 2002 to act as a parallel CNE, they have the “experience” and authority to characterize all voting centers according to their location.
Recently it became known that the comanditos had neither the experience nor the authority when journalist Celina Cárquez, opposition sympathizer and specialist on electoral matters, revealed in an interview the lack of organization on the part of the Unitary Platform (PUD) and its inability to have witnesses at all the voting centers.
“The reality is that 55 days before July 28, the number of electoral witnesses who will be in the voting centers is quite low. In some states the figures are alarming,” she said in an interview in early June. She detailed that, in total, only 67% of the tables will have a PUD witness while only 35% will have two witnesses, which would leave a deficit of 9,913 tables. She added that the accredited witnesses did not have the necessary training and preparation to be witnesses.
She further commented that unlike the opposition, the government “has an well oiled electoral machinery, with an electoral intelligence and an almost infallible system. And 55 days before the elections, you [the opposition] do not have the witnesses and they are not trained?”
Cárquez also criticized the attitude of Vente Venezuela, which even without having tested its electoral machinery, given that it never participated in elections, sought to control the whole process over and above the other opposition parties that historically have experience and hence have logistics.
Journalist Explains Venezuelan Opposition’s Organizational Failure
Undoubtedly, this lack of organization was in full view on June 30, when the voting drill was carried out for checking the proper functioning of the voting machines, the entire voting system, as well as the calculation of the average time a voter would need to exercise the vote.
The drill also allowed the voters to get familiar with the ballot and for the parties’ witnesses to get trained as well as to correct any details that might come to light. However, the PUD and Vente Venezuela did not show up at the event.
The voting drill was an ideal moment for the comanditos to test their capabilities and the high level of organization and logistics that they claim, but on the contrary, what stood out the most was their regret because Chavismo emerged victorious in terms of organization and mobilization during the event.
It is clear that the PUD has no electoral machinery and its organizational level is fragile and circumstantial. If they had a solid structure, they could have rehearsed what they call an important step for the “transition.”
Those who did take advantage of the occasion to review their electoral machinery were the revolutionary forces, who also verified how their level of mobilization and logistics works.
It is worth asking if the far-right opposition is truly prepared for the upcoming presidential elections. There also remains doubt as to whether the expenditure of energy in projecting that their victory and therefore the political transition are already certain, does not have violence as an alternative to achieve a change of government.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
