Jesús María Casal, president of Venezuela's self-styled National Primary Commission (CNP). Photo: Miguel Gutiérrez/EFE/File photo.
With only one day to go before the closing of the nomination process for Venezuela’s opposition primaries, the back and forth between the political parties and those responsible for the organization of the event is intensifying.
On this occasion, as of this Wednesday, June 21, the Justice First (PJ) and Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) parties are at the center of the controversy, having proposed an extension to the deadline for the nominations of candidates for these elections. The opposition primaries themselves are scheduled to take place on October 22 of this year.
Although there is no official explanation as to the pressures being exerted in this confrontation by the PJ and UNT parties, it is presumed that their actions are a strategy to gain time and establish an alliance between the two parties, who have so far not made any candidacy official. These details were disclosed by the vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, during his television program Con El Mazo Dando aired this Wednesday.
“An alliance has just materialized between Capriles and Rosales, who are desperately looking for a consensus,” Cabello stated, referring to two leaders within the PJ and UNT parties respectively. “The problem is that Capriles has deceived everybody with the supposed lifting of his ban to run for public office,” he continued to explain. “The agreement is simple: if Capriles’ ban is lifted, Rosales supports him. Otherwise, the support will be the other way around.”
The pre-candidate for the Democratic Action (AD) party, Carlos Prosperi, set off the alarms regarding anticipated fraud, rejecting the irresponsible partiality of the National Primary Commission if the deadline extension were to be allowed. “In a responsible manner,” said Prosperi, “I want to warn the country that the National Primary Commission wants to give an extension disrespecting the electoral timetable, showing political bias.”
Henry Ramos Allup, the secretary general for the AD party, joined in this warning. He said that the extension seeks to favor some aspirants in particular, an action that does not respect the rules defined by the commission. “The National Primary Commission cannot disrespect its own schedule accepted by all parties,” Ramos Allup stated, “in order to favor certain supervening proposals for the benefit of certain aspirants. It is a bad sign.”
It is worth noting that the self-styled National Primary Commission rejected the technical support of the National Electoral Council (CNE) a few days ago, expressing its distrust in the official arbiter and claiming to have control over the primary process. Even aside from that, uncertainty, discord, and distrust among the participants and the voters themselves are growing.
Registered candidates:
- Roberto Enríquez (Copei)
- César Pérez Vivas (Concertación)
- Tamara Adrián (United for Dignity)
- Andrés Velásquez (La Causa R)
Candidates to be registered:
- Luis Balo Farías (Independent)
- Delsa Solórzano (Citizen’s Encounter)
- César Almeida (UPP 89)
- Gloria Pino (Independent)
- Freddy Superlano (Popular Will)
- María Corina Machado (Vente Venezuela)
- Andres Caleca (Independent)
- Carlos Prosperi (Democratic Action)
So far, businessman Benjamín Rausseo, Manuel Rosales (UNT) and Henrique Capriles (PJ) have not announced the date of registration, although they have shown interest in doing so, and have even held campaign events.
(RedRadioVE) by Fransay Riera
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/AU
