Opposition candidate rejects National Electoral Council intervention in Venezuela’s primary elections

The Venezuelan opponent Andres Velazquez rejected this Sunday the technical support of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela for the internal primaries of the opposition, in which they will choose the candidate who will face chavismo in the presidential elections scheduled for 2024.

“We now reject that in the primary of the presidential candidate of democratic factors, which is an internal process, the CNE does not intervene in any way as the electoral arm of the regime”said Velásquez, quoted in a press release from his team.

The leader of The cause Rwho recently presented his candidacy for these opposition elections, assured that the intervention of the CNE in the internal process “is not justified”, and judged that “no Venezuelan will want to participate in this process if it is conducted” by the Electoral Power Council.

Last Friday, the CNE announced that it had agreed to form a technical commission with the Unitary Platform to determine the extent of its possible assistance during the primary elections of the opposition.

This commission was a proposal made by opponents last December to assess the use of the country’s polling centers for primary elections – more than 14,000 – as well as the organization of special days to register new voters and update update the data of the electoral register.

In this regard, Velásquez considered that the CNE would accept the request, but on the condition that the technical support of the institution and the intervention of the Plan República (military deployed for electoral processes) are also admitted, a proposal that he described as “unacceptable”.

Since last May, when the opposition announced that it would elect a unitary presidential candidate through primaries, the procedures that will govern it have been put forward, but the timetable for the process has not yet been presented.

For their part, nearly 500 young opponents of the Maduro dictatorship took to the streets of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, this Sunday, to demand from the electoral authorities the definitive opening of the electoral register.

The demonstrators, who gathered in the east of the capital to celebrate Youth Day, tried to reach one of the seats of the National Electoral Council, located in Plaza Venezuela, which they did not not reached, because they were held by a contingent of the Bolivarian army. National Police (PNB) near the area.

However, the leaders of the political parties and student organizations that led the mobilization were assisted by an electoral power official who approached them and listened to their demands.

“Young people from political parties and NGOs are mobilizing to demand that the National Electoral Council give answers for registration on the Electoral Register, since voting is essential and necessary for the political and economic change that we need”, declared the president of the Federation of Universities. Centers (FCU) of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), Jesus Mendoza.

Youth leader of Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) jean carlos capozzi He insisted that more than three million young people “are seeing their right to participate in the upcoming elections curtailed” by not continuously activating voter registration points across the country.

“We are on the streets demanding the same thing that we have always demanded, our right to be able to participate, our right to be able to vote, our right to be able to participate in the next election,” Capozzi said. EFE.

In the city of Maracaibo, in the state of Zulia (west), a hundred anti-Chavistas who make up regional university movements have also mobilized with the same demands.

Opponents have called for a new demonstration for this Monday, in which they intend to reach the main seat of electoral power, located in the center of Caracas, to demand the opening of 1,500 registration centers for new voters before the presidential elections. scheduled for 2024.

This Sunday, members of the Chavista youth are also mobilizing from a popular square in Caracas to the center of the capital, to commemorate Youth Day and the 209th anniversary of the Battle of Victory.

(With information from EFE)

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