Venezuelan opposition’s replacement presidential candidate cannot register for elections

Presidential candidate Corina Yoris of the united opposition in Venezuela has not been able to register in time to participate in the elections next summer. International news agencies reported this on Tuesday. The 80-year-old Yoris was put forward on Friday by opposition leader María Corina Machado as a candidate to take on the unpopular President Nicolás Maduro, because Machado himself has been excluded from participating in the planned July 28 due to unclear and unproven allegations of corruption. elections.

The deadline for the registration of presidential candidates expired at midnight local time on Monday, but according to the opposition, Yoris was unable to access the National Electoral Council’s online system and could not register in person. “A violation of the rights of a majority of Venezuelans who want to vote for change,” says former parliament speaker Omar Barboza on behalf of the opposition.

Arrests of opposition members

Last year, the regime and the opposition reached an agreement to hold free and transparent elections, but things do not seem to be going that way. Last week, Machado’s campaign leader and several other members of her Vente Venezuela party were also arrested.

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According to the polls, Maduro would lose by a large margin if Venezuelans were given the opportunity to vote for a serious opposition candidate. Including Maduro himself, thirteen presidential candidates have been registered for the elections, but none of them are on behalf of the united opposition. “We have tried all options,” Yoris said at a press conference on Monday about her failed attempts to register. “Not only the name Corina Yoris is refused, but the name of every citizen who wants to participate.”

Yoris remains an official opposition candidate for the time being

Despite the failed registration, Yoris remains the opposition candidate for the time being, opposition leader Machado said on Tuesday. She accuses Maduro of hand-picking his opponents in the elections. “We have been warning about this for months and now it has happened. The regime itself chose the candidates.”

But she may ultimately support Governor Manuel Rosales of Zulia province, who registered as a candidate at the last minute on Monday. His party supported Machado’s candidacy before it was excluded and forced to put Yoris forward. Machado says he is looking at the situation in the run-up to the elections “one day at a time”.

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