“We are going to demand the voting centers (…) It is a matter of rights,” said Jesús María Casal, president of the CNP. “With this announcement (of the primaries) we put the primaries in the hands of the people,” added Casal, inviting the population to join the October day.
Opposition leaders have said that the issue of Venezuelans abroad is key because there are some 7 million people, at least 4 million of them of voting age or over 18 years of age.
The Commission did not give details about the financing of the primaries, which is a key aspect in the organization of the process.
applicants
So far, at least a dozen opponents have announced their willingness to be candidates, including some whose political rights, which include being a candidate for popularly elected public office; they were withdrawn by decisions of the judicial system.
Opponents can apply as candidates between May 24 and June 23, according to the schedule disclosed by Casal.
The leader of La Causa R, Andrés Velásquez, —who recently presented his candidacy for the primaries— assured that, after the announcement, “the decision is in the hands of the citizens who will be able to choose the unitary candidate who defeats the dictatorship,” making reference to the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
The opposition last carried out a process to choose an opponent against the ruling party more than a decade ago, when it chose Henrique Capriles, then governor of the Miranda state, neighboring Caracas, who faced the late president Hugo Chávez.
Since then, the opposition has suffered multiple fractures after defeats in 2012, Chávez’s last electoral victory, and 2013 —when Maduro won—, who in 2018 was re-elected in elections seen by some Western democracies as a fraud and in which the opposition did not participate.
The next presidential elections would be scheduled for 2024, although Maduro has hinted that they could be brought forward.
With information from AFP and Reuters