The Venezuelan political world is boiling with impatience due to the lack of a date to announce the presidential elections and the uncertainty caused by the silence of the Supreme Court regarding the authorization of unitary opposition candidate María Corina Machado.
By Lyudmila Vinogradoff / abc.es
Both situations, which should have been resolved and defined before the end of last year, have been delayed indefinitely, which has caused concern and anxiety in the national and international political arena, which has increased pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro. Have inserted.
The decision to call elections rests with the President, who has already announced that the elections will be held in the second half of 2024, but not the date. According to the Constitution, presidential elections are always held in December at the end of the government’s term, but the President has the power to bring them forward.
Maduro has not announced whether he is running for re-election and is still sorting out the cards to see whether he will present his candidacy. In an interview with journalist Ignacio Ramonet last month, he responded that his candidacy was “premature” and that his decision depended on “God”.
Other Chavista candidates
However, there is a large section of Chavismo and its allies that wants another candidacy other than Maduro because of his low popularity and the name of Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, the number two in the government and vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. Is being considered. (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello.
And the Chavista president faces the lowest level of rejection in the polls. He gets up to 85% disapproval in surveys. His ally, the Venezuelan Communist Party, holds him responsible for defeats, destruction and misery and for poverty at 83% of the population, which closed at 189% last year, despite efforts at economic reform and control of inflation.
For this reason, the opposition parties Democratic Action, Primero Justicia, Un Nuevo Tiempo and Voluntad Popular have joined in demanding to call elections and present an electoral program to prepare their organization.
disqualifications
On the other hand, the Supreme Court is also delaying the decision on the review of disqualification of various politicians by the Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts (Court of Accounts) for administrative reasons, which should have been finalized last month.
In the case of María Corina Machado, her team of lawyers, coordinated by Perquins Rocha, have already gone to the Chavismo-dominated Supreme Court three times this week to see the file of the unitary presidential candidate and have not been allowed to do so Is. so.
Jurists say that apparently the strategy of the Chavista justice system is to indefinitely delay verdicts on arbitrary disqualifications made against opponents so that the jurisprudence of their irregularity and error in favor of the accused is not established and the facts enable them to be tried. Can be made. ,
Calling for free and fair elections and deauthorizing politicians are both part of the Barbados Agreements, to which the Maduro government committed itself with a mandatory date of December last year, which is why it has not yet complied . He has not given anything in return for the US releasing its key man Alex Saab.
(tagstotranslate)Nicole\u001s Maduro