Venezuela remains stuck on the route to the expected presidential elections of 2024. This Wednesday, Chavismo presented 27 proposals for dates compiled among different political, business, academic and religious sectors, which have decided to participate in the unusual consultation promoted by the National Assembly. that Nicolás Maduro controls.
In reality, this movement does not accomplish any specific step on the path to elections, since the National Electoral Council (CNE) is the body that must set the calendar of the elections.
However, this Wednesday's decision helps the Government control the political agenda.
The opposition sector that signed an electoral commitment with Chavismo in Barbados and that promotes María Corina Machado as a candidate, chosen in primaries and disqualified from the Supreme Court, has been left out.
However, for the president of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, government spokesman in the negotiations sponsored by Norway and the international community, this proposal is broader than the Barbados agreement and is even destined to replace it.
“Here are the immense majorities of the country,” he said at the event in which 150 people signed a document, with a red hard cover, that they will deliver this week to the electoral authorities.
The Government and its aides have continued with their strategy of creating an opposition tailored to their needs, according to several opposition leaders and voices critical of Chavismo.
Rodríguez highlighted that they managed to convene 85% of the country's political parties, which not only proposed a date to hold the elections but also spoke of "electoral guarantees" that involve regulations on social networks and the media to ensure equal advertising exposure. to all candidates.
Representatives of organizations such as Democratic Action, Voluntad Popular, Tupamaro, Bandera Roja, MEP, Copei, and other traditional names in the political spectrum were called to sign the document, but whose boards of directors were intervened in recent years by the judiciary. putting representatives related to the Government in charge.
They are part of those who in Venezuelan political jargon have ended up being called “scorpions.”
“In my view, this agreement is the development of the Barbados agreement and replaces it.
Because he who can do the most, can do the least.
In other words, the Barbados agreement is a subset of this whole agreement, which is much broader,” said Rodríguez, although members of the Unitary Platform, the counterpart in those negotiations, were not present at the signing.
Last week, the opposition delegation delivered a document to the mediators and the Government delegation in which they denounced 33 violations of the signed commitments.
In the Barbados agreement, it was established, for example, that the presidential elections will be held in the second half of 2024. The document includes proposals that range from the last week of March to December.
The ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), however, has not publicly presented its date.
“We have decided to incorporate all the dates proposed by all the factors that participated in this round of dialogue,” Rodríguez said.
In addition, the official leader has stated that in the next 12 months, regional and local representation positions will also be renewed, in addition to Parliament.
Specialists in electoral matters maintain that at least six months are needed from the electoral call to be able to comply with all the audit processes and production of the material.
Other aspects such as the updating of the voter registry should occur sooner and in this case, the Venezuelan migrants who are already close to 8 million and who, despite having permanent residence, for the most part have not been able to register abroad, continue to be left in limbo. particularly in the countries from which Venezuela has withdrawn its diplomatic representation.
“How does a Venezuelan vote in the United States?
They can't, because we are not allowed to have electoral representation.
How does a Venezuelan vote in Argentina?
If we send the electoral material and that crazy person steals it.
There is no way to guarantee that that psychotic person will not do something like that,” Rodríguez commented in reference to President Javier Milei to justify the obstacles to voting abroad.
Last October, in Barbados, it was also agreed to have international observation missions, such as that of the European Union and the Carter Center, whose participation depends on how far in advance the elections are called.
On the point regarding respect for the election mechanisms of opposition candidates and the authorization of those disqualified, furthermore, the agreements have foundered.
Chavismo has blocked Machado's participation and seems determined not to give in on that aspect.
A ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice annulled the results of primaries that were surprising due to the extensive mobilization of voters (more than two million) in the midst of narrow logistics full of obstacles and the organizers of the process are under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office.
In the last month, the scandal caused by the arrest of the lawyer and activist Rocío San Miguel and the subsequent expulsion from the country of the members of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights once again raised alarm bells about the stagnation of the Venezuelan political crisis.
The elections are crucial for Chavismo to release the weight of illegitimacy that they have been carrying since 2018, when they were re-elected in an early election and with a large part of the opposition candidates disqualified.
They are for the opposition and Venezuelans who aspire to open a window to political change in the country.
Maduro continues in his role as president-candidate although he fails to gain more than 20% support, according to most polls, and Machado continues to tour the country as if he could compete.
In the coming days, according to Rodríguez, there will be news about the date of the election.
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