The current president, Nicolás Maduro, is likely to run for another term, while his main rival, María Corina Machado, is still banned from participating.
The date for the presidential elections in Venezuela was set for July 28 by the electoral authorities on Tuesday. The current president, Nicolás Maduro, is likely to run for another term, while his main rival, María Corina Machado, is still banned from participating.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) president, Elvis Amoroso, said that the decision was made by consensus, after considering all the options presented by the Legislature, which ranged from mid-April to early December.
The document with the terms for the upcoming presidential elections was handed over to the electoral body four days earlier by the Venezuelan National Assembly, which has a pro-government majority. It stated that President Nicolás Maduro could seek re-election.
However, the main opposition group, the Democratic Unitary Platform, which is supported by Washington, did not sign the document. Its candidate, María Corina Machado, was barred from holding public office by the Venezuelan authorities.
Machado had won the opposition primaries in October with a wide margin.
The electoral body did not mention what would happen to her candidacy or to those of other opposition figures who are also banned. Amoroso, who used to be the Comptroller General of Venezuela, had politically disqualified Machado for 15 years in June 2023.
