Venezuela Elections: Officials Schedule Vote on July 28 But Blocks Opposition Candidate From Running

Venezuela has scheduled its presidential elections for Jul. 28, 2024, but the leading opposition candidate to challenge President Nicolas Maduro's rule is blocked from running.

Elvis Amoroso, the country's National Electoral Council president, announced the election date three days after lawmakers proposed more than 20 possible schedules. These ranged from as soon as mid-April to as late as December.

Venezuela's Presidential Election

(Photo : Federico PARRA / AFP) (FEDERICO PARRA/AFP via Getty Images)
Venezuelan officials announced that the country's presidential election will be held on Jul. 28, 2024, despite the leading opposition candidate still banned from running for office.(not actual photo)

The sitting president is widely expected to seek re-election in the latest race and his government, its allies, and other groups, have drafted the proposal suggesting dates and covering other aspects of the election.

With officials picking a date after June 30, the council will allow the local government to comply with part of an agreement that it entered with a faction of the opposition last year. This is where the latter called for the vote to take place in the second half of 2024.

However, the election plans did not mention the participation of candidates who are banned by the Venezuelan government from running for office. These include Maduro's strongest rival this year, Maria Corina Machado, as per Fox News.

The situation comes as in a primary that was held last year, the president won despite it being held by the opposition faction known as the Unitary Platform, which has the support of the United States government.

Amoroso signed Machado's ban from office last summer under his previous capacity as the nation's comptroller. He did not address the lawmaker's candidacy during the announcement that was made on Tuesday.

The agreement between the sitting government and the opposition was made in October and it was signed on the Caribbean island of Barbados. It focused on conditions that were meant to level the playing field for the country's 2024 presidential election.

The deal also called on both sides to "promote the authorization of all presidential candidates and political parties" to participate in the election as long as they are able to comply with the law, according to ABC News.

Banning the Leading Opposition Candidate

An expert on Venezuelan politics at Tulane University, David Smilde, said that Maduro's government is looking to thread the needle with the Jul. 28 election date. It would fulfill the Barbados agreement enough to keep it alive while still pushing opposition to split or abstain.

Referring to the political movement that was started by the late Hugo Chavez, a former president of Venezuela, Smilde said that an ideal outcome for Chavismo would be for the opposition to split or abstain. This would allow President Maduro to win on a relatively clean Election Day.

A senior fellow for Venezuela at the Atlantic Council, Geoff Ramsey, said that the announcement on Tuesday made it clear that the country will not have free and fair elections this year. He noted that it all but guarantees that the Biden administration will snap back sanctions.

The temporary easing of American sanctions on the oil and gas sector is set to expire on Apr. 18 and the American government needs to make the decision of whether or not to reimpose them, said the New York Times.