Presidential Candidate Registration Begins in Venezuela

Caracas (OrinocoTribune.com)—Registration for candidates for the upcoming presidential elections in Venezuela, scheduled for July 28, has begun, following what has been established in the National Electoral Council (CNE) calendar. Applicants may register their candidacy with the electoral body until next Tuesday, March 25.

The Democratic Action party candidate, Luis Eduardo Martínez, was the first candidate that registered his candidacy this Thursday, March 21, at the CNE headquarters in Caracas. He was accompanied by his wife, and Democratic Action’s National Secretary General, Bernabé Gutiérrez.

Martínez, in statements made in the CNE, said that his candidacy is supported by Democratic Action, Red Flag, the National Student Union, and the Republican Movement.

Earlier, in a social media post, Martínez reported that he registered his presidential candidacy online. Later, he went to the CNE headquarters to formalize the registration in person.

Con dirigentes, militantes y compañeros de @ADVenezuelaa entonando las notas del himno de nuestro glorioso partido, junto a mi hermano @adbernabe consignamos todos los recaudos exigidos por el #CNE para ser formalmente candidato a la presidencia de la República.
Agradezco a los… pic.twitter.com/IMnQKjcJAH
— Luis Eduardo Martínez (@Luisemartinezh) March 21, 2024

Far-right politician Daniel Ceballos has also registered his candidacy as presidential candidate, with the support of the organizations Voluntad Popular Activista and Alianza Renovación y Esperanza Political Alliance (Arepa).

Ceballos was an active member of the Leopoldo Lopez’ Popular Will party until 2021, when he was expelled following an accusation of being against the principles and values of the party. Ceballos’ political disqualification was lifted last January by the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), within the framework of the Barbados Agreements made between the government and the far-right opposition.

Ceballos has a violent political resume. He was among the most active politicians behind the destabilizing actions that unleashed the “La Salida Plan,” promoted by Leopoldo López in 2014. For this, he was arrested in 2014, but was later pardoned in 2018, like many far-right politicians have been pardoned by Chavismo in the interests of fostering peace.

He was accused by Voluntad Popular of being collaborationist with the Maduro government for not supporting the electoral abstention strategy in 2018 and for promoting legal measures to keep control over that political party.

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“While some here continue in the conflict and the confrontation, today here we sneak in and have an alternative proposal for Venezuela,” he said, calling on other political organizations to join what he described as a unitary project.

“Here we are not going to call anyone or to protest, we are not going to call anyone to the street, we are not going to ask them or subject them to the dilemma between staying and leaving,” added Ceballos during the ceremony opening registration, “we are only going to call them to vote, because it is the only thing needed for this country to change.”

Meanwhile, the most publicized far-right politician, María Corina Machado, keeps her followers under a veil of uncertainty by insisting that she is going to register her candidacy and refusing to name a substitute, despite the TSJ ruling maintaining her political disqualification.

In recent days, several political parties of different political orientations have lost their CNE credentials to properly operate as political parties, thus creating tensions among those candidates and political parties with no capacity to register candidates independently, such as María Corina Machado. This reality gives additional room to small political opposition parties and politicians to reach agreements with the far-right sector that supports Maria Corina Machado.

Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff

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