Venezuela Will Hold Presidential Elections On July 28: Official

Caracas, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th Mar, 2024) Venezuela will go to the polls on July 28 to choose a president, the electoral authority said Tuesday, with incumbent Nicolas Maduro widely expected to stand and his main challenger precluded from running.

The date was chosen by the ruling-party aligned National Electoral Council (CNE), after Maduro's government and the opposition agreed in Barbados last year to hold a free and fair vote in 2024 with international observers present.

That deal saw the United States ease sanctions against the oil-rich South American country, allowing US-based Chevron to resume limited crude extraction and leading to a prisoner swap.

The agreement required that opposition candidates be allowed to appeal court rulings disqualifying them from holding office.

Since then, however, the Supreme Court loyal to Maduro upheld a 15-year ban on opposition Primary winner Maria Corina Machado.

Judges ruled in January that Machado had been "involved... in the corruption plot orchestrated" by former opposition leader Juan Guaido, now in exile.

The "plot," they said, was responsible for "criminal" sanctions against Venezuela.

The judges also confirmed the ineligibility of a possible opposition stand-in -- two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles.

After the ruling, Machado accused Maduro of seeking "fraudulent elections" and the United States announced it would reimpose some sanctions.

Since then, senior government official Diosdado Cabello has said elections would be held "without the presence" of the United States or the Organization of American States -- contrary to the provisions of the Barbados deal.