No “elections without me,” Venezuelan opposition candidate for the 2024 presidential election, Maria Corina Machado, told her supporters on Monday, while the judicial system, accused of acting at the behest of those in power, confirmed his ineligibility on January 26.
• Also read: Venezuela: Call to lift the ban on the main opponent
“Nicolas Maduro will not vote for the popular candidate because the people have already chosen their candidate, period,” Machado said, earning applause from her supporters.
Ms. Machado, 56, a liberal known for her combativeness, won Venezuela's opposition primaries in October with more than 2 million votes and 92% of the vote.
Many observers believe that the candidate will be able to rally the entire opposition, which is traditionally very divided, behind her.
“We will win (…) I received the mandate on October 22nd from almost 3 million Venezuelans who exercised their popular sovereignty.” I represent this popular sovereignty. Without me and without the millions of Venezuelans who voted, you cannot hold elections,” she added.
“We have a clear and unequivocal mandate, we will defeat Nicolas Maduro in this year's presidential elections,” the date of which has yet to be set, the opposition candidate added.
Ms. Machado had challenged her ban particularly on the grounds of “treason” for supporting American sanctions against the Maduro government.
The possibility of challenging the decision before the Supreme Court was achieved in Barbados thanks to pressure from the United States through a negotiation process between the government and the opposition, mediated by Norway.
“They didn’t keep their word.”
An agreement signed in Barbados in October 2023 provides for the presence of international observers and guarantees that the vote will take place in the second half of the year.
As part of this agreement, the United States relaxed the embargo on Venezuelan oil, gas and gold. But after rejecting Ms Machado's appeal, Washington said it was considering new sanctions.
“Once again they have violated what was agreed in this (negotiation) process, they have not kept their word (…) They have violated the procedures, they have fabricated documents,” Ms. Machado said.
For their part, the authorities assume that the judiciary has decided: “There was a voluntary mechanism: those who wanted to appeal, appealed and also committed themselves to respect the result.” That is a thing of the past,” said Jorge Rodríguez, President of Parliament and head of the delegation of power at the negotiations, on Monday.
“There is nothing more to say,” he insisted, adding that the opposition was showing “deep arrogance” if it believed that “a surname” was above “the Constitution.”
On Saturday, the opposition delegation at the negotiations called for the decision to be repealed and alerted the countries involved in the negotiations: Norway, France, Colombia and Brazil.
In an EU statement on Monday morning, the European Union said it was “very concerned” about the Supreme Court's decision: “Decisions aimed at preventing opposition figures from exercising their fundamental political rights cannot only be detrimental to democracy and the harm the rule of law.”
Constitutional lawyer Juan Manuel Rafalli believes that Ms. Machado “could challenge the decision or demand the annulment of the administrative act.”
“But this is a political problem, not a legal problem,” he told AFP. “If there is no independent and autonomous judiciary (…), there will never be a positive answer.”
Dialogue between the government and opposition began in August 2021 and was blocked twice in Barbados before the agreement was signed. Neither side has expressed any intention to leave the table at this time.