The National Electoral Council must set the date of the elections in Venezuela and the steps to reach them.
Chavismo, on its own, has begun a public consultation process to define a schedule on which some allied sectors have proposed their ideal day to vote.
Political parties instrumentalized by the Government such as the so-called “moderate opposition”, businessmen and other related sectors have signed up for the call of the National Assembly, led by Jorge Rodríguez.
The Unitary Platform, united in demanding that the candidate chosen in the primaries María Corina Machado be able to compete, has been left out of the debate.
While some are launching possible dates for the elections, Nicolás Maduro has predicted that "he will win by hook or by crook", as he assured last Sunday, when Chavismo commemorated 32 years of Hugo Chávez's failed coup against the Government. by Carlos Andrés Pérez.
The electoral route that was configured in Barbados, where it was established that presidential elections with guarantees should occur in the second half of 2024, could have shortcuts.
They are found in the fine print of what was signed last October between the delegations of Chavismo and the opposition, which then represented great progress in the search for a way out of the political crisis after almost a year of stalled talks.
The date chosen may condition other agreements such as the participation of all disqualified candidates, which Chavismo has interpreted at its convenience, which has led the United States to reimpose sanctions on some sectors and threaten not to renew the licenses given to oil and gas after April 18.
The Maduro Government seems firm in its decision to skip the line regarding the participation of all candidates, as it has done on other occasions.
The opposition had also requested international electoral observation and the updating of the voter registry, something that requires time.
But Chavismo is in a hurry.
The most radical sectors have talked about calling the elections in the first quarter of 2024, which would not give time for almost anything.
The president of the electoral body, Conrado Pérez Briceño, said this Tuesday in an interview on local television that they are prepared to hold an election “in 35 days” if necessary.
However, the date towards which the trend seems to lean is July, which would barely fall within the second half of 2024 set by the Barbados agreements.
During the public consultation, from which a commission was formed that will present a proposal to the CNE next week, several dates emerged.
The enigmatic Luis Ratti, who has already launched himself as an electoral candidate and recently made a judicial threat to seize the name and symbols of Vente Venezuela, María Corina Machado's organization, has launched the closest date: April 14, when It would be 11 years since the election in which Maduro came to power, following the death of Chávez.
Ratti is part of the so-called “scorpions”, a sector that claims to oppose the Government but plays in its favor.
José Brito, also from the “scorpions” group, proposed July 28, when the ruling party celebrates the birth of Chávez.
A sector of the Democratic Action party, divided via judicial means, proposes July 5, Independence Day in Venezuela.
From other ranks, Daniel Ceballos, one of the disqualified people who has received the pass to apply for the Supreme Court of Justice, said that the best thing would be to do them between May and June.
Another former presidential candidate and current deputy, the evangelical pastor Javier Bertucci, who competed in 2018 against Maduro in a process that was not recognized by the international community, has proposed moving the date until October of this year.
In this consultation, Chavismo is once again encouraging the division of the opposition, once again bogged down by the judicial blockade of its candidate.
The international community and the facilitators of the negotiations have insisted on returning to the Barbados roadmap, which involves allowing the participation of all candidates, something that was discarded on January 26 when the Supreme Court confirmed the disqualification of Machado for 15 years, although it has not yet published the sentence in its entirety.
This 2024 election has become crucial not only for the opposition in its exhausting fight for a change of government after 25 years of Chavismo, the last few years in its most authoritarian version.
For Maduro, who has resisted since 2018 with that crack in legitimacy due to his questioned re-election after which an international siege was imposed on him, he seeks to consolidate himself in elections that allow him not only to remain in power, but to understand the world like any president. starting on January 10, 2025, when a new presidential term and, perhaps, another stage in the deep Venezuelan crisis, begin again.
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