Maduro enters a race to extend his power for six more years, which would exceed the 14 years of his term Hugo Chávez accumulated.
Venezuela’s presidenton Monday, before the National Electoral Council (CNE), his candidacy for the presidential elections on July 28, in which he will compete for a third term in power, which he has held since 2013.
The Chavista leader went to the headquarters of the electoral body, in Caracas, after participating in a march called by the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in support of its registration, with which it becomes the tenth politician to officialize his aspiration, a few hours after the end of the deadline set in the schedule for the nomination of candidacies.
Maduro, 61, enters a career to extend his power for six more years, which would surpass the 14 years of his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, accumulated.
According to the state channel VTV, 14 political organizations have nominated Maduro as a candidate.
In addition to the current head of state, deputies Luis Eduardo Martínez, Juan Alvarado, José Brito and Javier Bertucci, former mayors Claudio Fermín and Daniel Ceballos, of opponent Antonio Ecarri, comedian Benjamín Rausseo and Luis Ratti, dissidents from the wider opposition sector, have registered to compete in the upcoming elections.
Meanwhile, the main opposition coalition, theDemocratic Unitary Platform (PUDP), denounces impediments to accessing the system and registering its candidate, the historianCorina Yorischosen as such in the face of the disqualification that preventsMaría Corina Machado, winner of the October primaries, compete for public office in these and other elections until 2036.
For this reason, the PUD has asked the CNE – which has not ruled on the reasons for this impediment – to extend the period to run candidacies for three days, in order to “remedie the de facto and legal violations that have occurred in the process.”
The electoral body also did not rule on the request for an extension of the registration period by the LDP.
Yoris said Monday that the opposition he represents has exhausted all the means at his disposal “so that this can be resolved,” so he demanded Maduro “resight the Constitution” and his political rights.
Machado, for his part, warned that if the candidate who will compete against Chavismo in the presidential elections “choose him” the Maduro government, these cannot be considered an election.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in Panama America