Venezuela extends an electoral period to 72 hours

CARACAS (EFE).— The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela announced yesterday its decision to extend for a period of 72 hours the process of replacing candidates for the presidential elections of July 28, whose deadline ended yesterday, following —he said— receive requests from different political organizations.

“The CNE… has decided to extend by 72 hours the period for the modification or substitution of nominations that will be reflected on the ballot or electoral instrument. Consequently, the extension of the aforementioned deadline will expire on April 23, 2024 at 12:00 local time (04:00 GMT),” the organization said in a statement.

The electoral body indicated that this decision ratifies its commitment to “guarantee the right to vote and political participation of the Venezuelan people.”

The day before yesterday, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – the main anti-Chavista coalition – unanimously ratified Edmundo González Urrutia as its candidate for the presidential elections, replacing María Corina Machado, who is disqualified from holding elected office.

González Urrutia had been nominated by the PUD as a provisional candidate, following denouncing the impossibility of registering the historian Corina Yoris, who was named as Corina’s replacement.

Given this decision, the executive secretary of the PUD, Omar Barboza, indicated that the governor of the state of Zulia (west), Manuel Rosales, will decline his candidacy for the Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) party, which is part of the majority alliance, to support González Urrutia.

Also yesterday, María Corina ratified her support for González Urrutia as her candidate for the presidential elections on July 28.

“Today there are 99 days left, because we already have a date, July 28, we already have a card and we already have a candidate who has been supported by everyone, by all political parties, by good citizens, Edmundo González Urrutia,” he said. the former deputy in a video published on the social network X.

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Edmundo González Urrutia was registered by the PUD, initially, provisionally, due to the impediment, on the part of the CNE, to nominate Corina Yoris, endorsed by the alliance as María Corina Machado – winner of the October primaries – might not register, due to a disqualification that prevents him from holding elected public office until 2036.

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