The ruling party announces the candidacy of President Nicolas Maduro for a third term

CARACAS (AP) — Venezuela's ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) announced President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday as its candidate for the upcoming presidential election, which will allow him to win a third consecutive term with no real competition in sight.

The president accepted the nomination for the elections scheduled for July 28 during a conference of the United Socialist Party in Caracas.

He said, “A man alone will not be here. I am here for the people, and for this day, March 16, I accept the presidential candidacy for the July 28 elections. I accept it and bear it, with the support of the people.” “We will go to a new victory for the Bolivarian and Chavista forces,” Maduro told his followers.

He added, “Here the candidate is not Maduro. Here the candidate is a people, and with the people of the neighborhood, we go to fight on foot, we go to battle, and we go to victory.”

In his speech, Maduro reviewed what he considered his government’s achievements and Chavez’s legacy in the war “against imperialism.” Before concluding his speech, he asked his followers to “take care of me wherever I go,” declaring that he would march in the streets in a popular movement to achieve victory.

The opposition's participation in the elections is not clear: Maduro's main opponent, María Corina Machado – who swept the primaries with more than 90% of the vote – has been disqualified by Venezuelan authorities from holding public office for 15 years.

However, Machado said he will continue “until the end,” although it is not clear how he will overcome the disqualification.

The first vice president of the United Socialist Party, Diosdado Cabello, announced that the next step would be to register Maduro's candidacy before the National Electoral Council, although he did not specify the date.

“We have a candidate, Nicolas will go and we will go together,” said Cabello, who then handed the PSU banner to the president, who waved it to cheers from his followers.

Maduro took office as interim president in March 2013 after the death of his mentor, Hugo Chavez, but a month later he was elected in the 2013-2019 elections, and then re-elected in 2018 for another term in disputed elections that were unknown to the regime. The opposition and some foreign governments.

The last date for registering candidates according to the electoral schedule will be March 25.

“They think this is just another election, another electoral battle in which they can trample or cheat, and we will remain as if nothing happened, standing idly by, with our heads down, not understanding anything,” Machado said recently. On one occasion in front of his followers.

Other opposition figures were also excluded, such as Henrique Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate who refused to participate in the recent primaries.

The Unitary Democratic Platform, an opposition coalition, had questioned the process and had demanded the previous day, on its Twitter account

The program added, “Venezuelans want to vote, and there will be no maneuver that prevents the expression of the majority’s desire for change.”

At the end of 2023, the government and the opposition signed an agreement in Barbados stipulating that presidential elections will be held in the second half of this year, with the presence of international observers, and a process that allows the participation of all candidates.