United in the goal of defeating Nicolás Maduro in the July presidential elections, divided in the "with whom": Venezuela's opposition strives to
avoid an "internal war"
to define the candidate in the presidential elections, a scenario that only benefits to the socialist leader.
Maduro, in power since 2013,
seeks a third
six-year term on July 28.
After several days of blockade and about to expire the deadline,
the opposition managed to register two candidates
with the National Electoral Council (CNE), accused of serving Chavismo.
But neither of these two is the one proposed by leader María Corina Machado, who swept the opposition primaries in 2023 but was politically disqualified and cannot participate in the elections.
Manuel Rosales, governor of the oil state of Zulia. Photo: Reuters
On the list of 13 candidates for president of Venezuela appear
Manuel Rosales
, governor of the oil state of Zulia (west) and rival of Hugo Chávez in 2006, and Edmundo González Urrutia, registered "provisionally" until the sole candidate for the Unitary Platform alliance is defined. Democratic (PUD).
Machado's support
will be crucial for whoever ends up on the ballot.
"I will do everything I have to do for the unit," Rosales said Tuesday, amid accusations of having "betrayed" it. "If the platform asks, agrees, decides anything, I am on the platform, from there I do not move even a millimeter."
A promise that the opposition
needs him to keep.
"The internal agreements of the opposition must be governed by
maintaining unity as the best possible strategy
," political analyst Yoel Lugo explained to AFP. "The smart thing now
is not an opposition civil war
, which only favors the candidacy of Nicolás Maduro," said the former director of the CNE, Vicente Díaz.
Polls give Maduro
support between 15 and 20%.
"My candidate is Corina Yoris," Machado launched after Rosales' registration. Yoris, an 80-year-old academic, was her bet to represent her on the electoral ballot,
but she was never able to be registered due to the "blockage"
in the system that the PUD denounced since Thursday, when the process opened.
Corina Yoris. Photo: Reuters
Experts and sources within the opposition agree that the candidacy of Yoris, who
called Rosales "Judas", will not be possible.
"How can one react to a betrayal? A betrayal is a betrayal," the philosopher also told Colombian radio Blu.
For now, Machado has not attacked Rosales,
nor has he called for a boycott of the elections
, as the opposition did in 2018, when Maduro was re-elected for the first time in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis.
"The restrictions of this electoral process
leave barely a loophole
through which to pass," said Piero Trepiccione, political scientist and public opinion consultant. "That gap forces the opposition even more to talk and reach an agreement."
María Corina Machado. Photo: AP
"I hope they don't step on the comb and fall into the trap of fragmentation supported by the government," he added.
Time until April 20
The opposition has
until April 20 to define the candidate
: the most obvious scenario so far is that
González Urrutia declines in favor of Rosales
.
While the name is being defined, Rosales started his campaign with an event at a convention center in Maracaibo, capital of Zulia. Hundreds of militants shake his hand, hug him, and take selfies with their cell phones.
Rosales started his campaign with an event at a convention center in Maracaibo. Photo: EFE
"Leaving Venezuela without the option to vote would be very serious, very sad," he said in line with his press conference the day before in Caracas. "I had to make a decision and I made it."
Rosales denounced "a war over networks" against him. They are "inventing, slandering, defaming, that if I am Maduro's candidate, who negotiated with Maduro,
may God protect me and favor me!
" Opponents, including some radical leaders, echoed that theory due to
the approaches he has had since he assumed the governorship.
Machado
put on pause an emotional campaign
, with which he toured the country for months, giving speeches from trucks or taking secondary roads
on a motorcycle.
In Carabobo (central-north), Karín Rodríguez, a 58-year-old bricklayer, summed up the feeling of the majority of his followers: "We will vote for whoever she says," he said.
The author is an AFP journalist