The date of the presidential election, a Venezuelan political enigma

Uncertainty about when the presidential elections will be held Venezuela will begin to unravel in the coming days, when Chavisam will launch a process – which could last hours or weeks – in response to a request by opponents to specify the day in question, in order to point out the entire political and electoral machinery.

From next Monday, by order of the Parliament, under the control of the ruling party, various sectors will prepare a proposal for the timetable for the elections, which will be presented the same week National Electoral Council (CNE)which, as the only one authorized to call elections in the country, will take the time it deems necessary to determine the date.

Until now, Venezuelans know that, according to the agreement signed between the Government and the majority opposition, grouped in Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD)they will vote in the second half of the year, but I cannot estimate whether they will go to the elections in July or December, which will depend on what the elections will be.

Former electoral rectors consulted by EFE agree that the absence of a date jeopardizes the fulfillment of the guarantees agreed in Barbados last October, when the executive and the PUD signed the first plan for the elections, a document that was “partially violated” by the government, according to the counterpart.

Guarantees in question

Director of Global Observatory for Communication and Democracy, by Griselda Colinahe explained to EFE that these guarantees include processes that must be activated months before the elections, such as updating and refining voter lists and international observation.

“Besides what traditionally happens in the electoral process, they have to give us more time, more lapses to carry out elections that, in the case of Venezuela, are presented as fundamental elections because political change is at stake,” he said. also former rector of HNE.

He estimated that it would take about six months to organize elections of this type, but, he pointed out, the “backlog” in Voter’s register creates an additional difficulty, since there are more than three million Venezuelans of legal age who are not yet registered to vote, so registration days that attract young people across the country are urgently needed.

Regarding election observation, he reminded that missions like the one of the European Union – agreed between the Government and PUD – require explicit invitations from the state, which have not yet been issued, to start forming, months before the voting day, and arrive in the field around two months before the fight.

The country knows that if mission invitations are issued late, it will not be able to organize its teams for effective deployment and, therefore, will not attend, a fact that already has precedent in the 2020 legislative elections, and represents another ace up the Executive’s sleeve, with with which he can play as he likes.

Time and Handicap

Former chief rector of HNE Vicente Diaz he explained to EFE that although there is no rule that requires the announcement of the date of the election at a certain time, the uncertainty could produce “exhaustion” of the opposition political forces for their campaign or, on the contrary, a lack of preparation for the competition.

He explained that the very act of setting the date “is not a technical, logistical or constitutional issue, but it is a political issue” that puts the opposition sector, which has no access to power and is unaware of the details of Chavismo, in the government since 1999, in a “very unfavorable position”.

“Those who oppose the Government (…) do not know exactly what the process will be like, whether the necessary guarantees will be fulfilled (…) and they cannot prepare for the electoral struggle,” he insisted. .

Furthermore, he warned that an upgrade was “necessary”. Voter’s register This is one of the most difficult aspects in a short time, because – he explained – a few days of registration without a campaign promoting the right to vote will leave out hundreds of thousands of new voters.