CARACAS.- The main opposition alliance of Venezuelathe Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), meets this Friday to debate the choice of the unitary candidate for the presidential elections, a few hours before the deadline for candidate substitutions expires, this April 20, according to the schedule of the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The governor of Zulia and president of the Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) party will be present at this meeting. Manuel Rosaleswith whom the PUD maintains a fight, after the latter ran at the last minute for the presidential elections, but at the request of the party coalition.
The “longed-for meeting that has to take place with the presence of Maria Corina Machado within the Unitary Platform and that obviously also has the assistance of Governor Manuel Rosales will be tomorrow,” said Delsa Solórzano, president of the Encuentro Ciudadano party, in a video on X published on Thursday night.
Solórzano reported on Wednesday that the PUD was in “permanent session” to find a solution to the dilemma of registering the presidential candidacy after they could not nominate Machado, winner of last October’s primaries. The leader said that that day the PUD received Rosales “who reiterated his commitment to unity, asked that we all assume the commitment of a clean campaign and put both his candidacy and his party card at the command of unity.” New Time (UNT).
Likewise, the alliance met on Wednesday with candidate Enrique Márquez, “who requested a meeting with the PUD in recent days to present his presidential aspirations and put himself at the command of unity. Marquez presented his vision for the country and the future and reiterated his recognition of the work of the PUD and Maria Corina Machado“Solórzano explained in X.
In the same publication, Solórzano emphasized that “the objective we seek is clear: we want to vote, Venezuela wants to elect. We want to participate in the elections to win. That is why they put so many obstacles in front of us. We want to vote in unity for a person chosen by the unity, based on the rules of the PUD… We are aware that we are in a dictatorship and we must face countless obstacles, but we reiterate: the opposition candidate is chosen by the opposition.”
In recent weeks, the PUD has debated who will be the consensus candidate who will occupy the card of the MUD party (absorbed by the PUD) on the electoral card for the presidential elections on July 28. The deadline for electoral substitutions expires on Saturday, April 20, so the PUD has a few hours to make a decision and register a consensus candidate.
The leader Maria Corina Machado, who could not run because she was disqualified, asked the PUD leadership on Tuesday for a meeting with representatives of the 10 parties that make up the alliance and asked that Rosales attend on behalf of UNT. Machado’s support for whoever is designated as a candidate is key for opposition unity. However, the meeting had not been able to take place until this Thursday.
Thus, today the PUD is expected to announce the candidate who will replace Edmundo González Urritia, who had to be nominated provisionally due to the impossibility of nominating Machado.
According to the Venezuelan press, the appointee could be Márquez, who would have the endorsement of Machado. Also, it is said that pressure would be exerted on González Urrutia to decline and force Rosales’ application or even that it could be the diplomat who remains as the standard bearer of the unity card.
The application process
Last October, Machado, general coordinator of Vente Venezuela, won the opposition primaries with a resounding 92% of the votes, but could not run before the pro-government National Electoral Council (CNE), because she is disqualified, a ban that the Maduro regime imposed on him, illegally, according to opponents and legal specialists.
Machado has managed to lead the electoral preferences of the opposition, in a context in which Nicolás Maduro, who aspires to a third term, registers low levels of popularity, among other things, due to the unprecedented economic crisis of the Caribbean country, in addition to the social, humanitarian, immigration and human rights crisis, and major cases of corruption in which senior leaders of Chavismo are involved.
Machado appointed an academic to take the unitary candidacy. This is Corina Yoris, a philosopher and university professor, who enjoys a very good reputation. However, the Maduro regime also did not allow Yoris to register. To do this, she boycotted her access to the automated platform on which they make applications.
The deadline to make applications expired and the PUD requested an extension of 12 hours, in which it managed to register the diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia, as a provisional candidate, while a more robust option was chosen.
Source: WRITING
