Former Chavez Rival Registers To Challenge Maduro In Venezuela Polls

Caracas, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Mar, 2024) Venezuelan opposition figure Manuel Rosales registered to challenge President Nicolas Maduro in July's elections, after the main opposition coalition said it was prevented from nominating its candidate by the midnight deadline.

Opposition party Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) registered Rosales "by automated means," the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced early Tuesday, just after the nomination window closed.

A former exile, mayor and ex-presidential candidate who lost to Hugo Chavez in 2006, Rosales is the current governor of the northwestern Venezuelan state of Zulia.

Moments before his registration was announced, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) said it had been unable to officially register its own candidate after it could not access the web platform.

"We have been working all day ... trying to exercise our constitutional right to nominate our candidate. This was not possible," coalition official Omar Barboza said in a video released by PUD early Tuesday.

Maduro, 61, meanwhile formalized his own run for the presidency with great fanfare on Monday, with thousands turning out to rally behind him and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

"I was moved by so much generosity and recognition on the part of the people for this humble man from the neighborhoods of Caracas, this humble worker," said Maduro, carrying an illustration of his mentor, revolutionary leader Chavez.

The former bus driver is seeking to extend his turbulent time in power with a third six-year term, amid rising concerns over his slide into authoritarianism and crackdown on the opposition.

Wearing a jacket in the red, yellow and blue of the Venezuelan flag, he called on his supporters to rally behind him, as the crowd chanted his name.

"Nicolas is the hope, he is the continuity of a project that Commander Hugo Chavez started," Pedro Mata, 52, told AFP at the rally.

However, opinion surveys show Maduro is not the favorite at the July 28 polls.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, 56, overwhelmingly won an opposition Primary vote last year, and some surveys put her support at about 72 percent.

She was declared ineligible however, and banned from public office for 15 years by courts loyal to Maduro on charges of corruption widely dismissed as spurious, and for supporting Western sanctions against the government.

In her place, the opposition coalition had been trying to nominate 80-year-old university professor Corina Yoris.