Maduro announces his candidacy for re-election in July presidential poll
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro will run for a second re-election to secure another six-year term in voting planned for July 28, according to the ruling Socialist party.
Maduro, a 61-year-old former union leader, was proclaimed as the Socialist party’s candidate by Vice-President Diosdado Cabello, and took the stage at a large sports arena to address supporters.
“There’s just one outcome, the people’s victory on July 28,” Maduro said, wearing a bright red zippered jacket. “They haven’t been able to stop us, nor will they be able to.”
Recent opinion polls show 13.9 per cent of Venezuelans plan to vote for Maduro, far behind opposition candidate Maria Corina Machado’s 54.5 per cent.
But though Machado won an opposition primary in October, it was unclear whether she would appear on the ballot after the country’s top court upheld a ban barring her from holding public office.
Candidates have until March 25 to register and it remains unclear whether the opposition will name a replacement for Machado, who is under increasing pressure to pick a substitute.
Other opposition figures have also been disqualified, such as Henrique Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, who declined to participate before the primary election.
Capriles is among a growing number of voices of government opponents and foreign leaders to urge Machado to step aside to allow voters to rally behind an alternative.
The United States partially rolled back sanctions on Venezuela’s government in late 2023 because of an elections deal with the opposition, but the nascent rapprochement came to an end with arrests of opposition figures and the court decision about Machado. The US has pledged to reinstate oil sanctions from mid-April.
Ruling party sources have said the reversal in policy by Maduro may be because of waning popularity with his base.
Venezuela has suffered hyperinflation and an unprecedented economic collapse since Maduro took power in 2013, after the death of his mentor, Hugo Chavez. The country has seen intermittent waves of protest against the ruling party and Maduro, particularly between 2014 and 2017, resulting in dozens of arrests and killings.