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(CNN Spanish) --
In Venezuela, the opposition primary elections already have a date: October 22, the day when voters will be able to decide the name of a single candidate from this sector who will face the ruling party candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for 2024, in accordance with the National Constitution.
This after the opponents of the questioned president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, led several public impasses in which between mutual accusations they revealed their divisions.
One of the most recent episodes that publicly revealed the differences revolved around the elimination or not of the figure known as the "interim government" headed until then by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó and a situation that led to the end of the so-called interim government between accusations and disagreements.
The Venezuelan opposition prepares for the final stretch of its primary elections
The president of the National Commission of Primaries, Jesús María Casal, delivers a speech during the announcement of the date of the primary elections of the Venezuelan opposition in Caracas on February 15, 2023. (Credit: MIGUEL ZAMBRANO/AFP via Getty Images)
In this context, the primary election process faces important challenges, as recognized by the president of the primary electoral commission of the opposition Plataforma Unitaria, Jesús María Casal, who warned that "there are critical issues still pending to be decided" but that "the bases are already laid and there are deadlines in the schedule for their resolution."
Casal specified that "consensus is primary", but that consensus will still be necessary to define future steps.
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Casal affirmed that he hopes that "citizens will attend this call en masse" and that the commission as referee will present the result of the scrutiny to "proclaim whoever is favored by the popular vote to start a new stage, with a candidacy unity to win the presidential elections.
Among the issues yet to be defined is the scope of technical assistance from the National Electoral Council, whether the vote will be manual or automated, and how the participation of Venezuelans abroad will be.
Casal clarified that the political disqualifications, sanctions imposed by the Comptroller General of the Republic that prevent the exercise of public office, will not be an obstacle to running in this primary process.
In his opinion, they constitute a violation of human rights.
Some possible pre-candidates such as the two-time presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles and Juan Guaidó are disqualified and it has not been clarified how the fact that a disqualified candidate wins the primary elections would be resolved considering that he will not be able to register as a candidate with the CNE, otherwise according to the sanction of the Comptroller.
For the general director of Datanalisis, Luis Vicente León, these primary elections have many challenges ahead because several of the pending decisions constitute a dilemma.
In his opinion, the main challenge is for as many candidates to participate and for radicals, moderates and even
outsiders
not to be left out of the process , since, he maintains, the more they participate, the more legitimacy the process can be given.
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Another challenge, according to León, is to achieve the participation of the electorate.
He believes that “they should try to get people to see it as a positive event that is worth participating in to validate.
In the same way, how to guarantee that the technical support of the CNE that favors in its opinion the operational and cost advantages in logistics, does not have a negative impact on the participation of an electorate that fears that their identity will be revealed.
For his part, the director of the Center for Political and Government Studies of the Andrés Bello Catholic University, Benigno Alarcón, considers that the fundamental thing is that the citizen begins to exercise his power and understand that it is not only the vote.
The analyst wonders what good is a primary if the next day the winner is disqualified.
In his opinion, "the only way to prevent that is for the public to unite."
He points out that the government is the main one concerned about the primaries and that it is going to try to sabotage it, but he also points out that these internal elections have enemies within the opposition itself.
Political leaders such as María Corina Machado (Vente Venezuela), Delsa Solorzano (Encuentro Ciudadano), Carlos Prosperi (Acción Democrática) and Carlos Ocariz (Primero Justicia) have publicly expressed their interest in running as candidates.
However, Henrique Capriles (First Justice) has not publicly confirmed or denied his intention to run for office.
Capriles in social networks assured that it is good news that the primaries have a date.
Meanwhile, Juan Guaidó avoided answering to the press on the subject this Wednesday and focused on talking about recovering the unity of the opposition and in that sense he assured that it is necessary to "recompensate for the mistakes that have been made."
From the ruling party there was also a reaction.
The vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello in the company of Maduro affirmed “there will not be primaries here.
That is a strategy to buy time”.
Meanwhile, the questioned president stressed that the parties participating in the primaries "are directly linked to the North American empire."
Venezuelan opposition