Venezuela is apparently heading towards elections in the second half of 2024, however doubts persist about how free and fair the vote will be, as opposition leader faces a potential ban, and the Maduro government abuses its position of power and cracks down on civil liberties.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the US-backed Venezuelan opposition agreed in October 2023, after lengthy discussions, to have fair elections during 2024. In exchange, the US relieve some economic sanctions that plagued the South American country.
The government agreed in principle to respect oppositions, however since the agreement there weren’t many signs of appeasement against opposition. On the contrary, the leader of the opposition, lawyer María Corina Machado has seen herself banned from running from office and the Supreme Court, packed with Chavistas close to Maduro upheld the decision on last Friday.
Machado won the primary election among the opposition back in October with an overwhelming 90% of votes in a vote that saw record-presence of 2.4 million voters, far more than expected by both allies and adversaries. She won despite receiving last June a ban against running for office over accusations of fraud, tax violations and pushes for US sanctions against the country. She appealed to the country’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, asking to declare the ban null and looking for protection of her political rights.
According to senior analyst of the Atlantic Council Geoff Ramsey, the opposition should come up with an alternative candidate to Machado, because Maduro and his allies will not allow her to run. Chavistas – named after Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez – are stacked in all areas of power in Venezuela. The head of the electoral council, Elvis Amoroso, signed the ban against Machado, while the Attorney General Tarek William Saab is a strong Maduro supporter, opened criminal investigations against opposition’s politicians and organisers, arresting three Machado’s campaign staffers and detaining Machado’s close ally Roberto Abdul. Later they were all released after a prisoner swap with the US.
In response to these evident violations of the terms, the United States revoke the sanction relief granted to Venezuela’s state-owned mining company, Compañía General de Minería de Venezuela, also known as Minerven. The Biden administration also gave Maduro an April deadline to meet the agreed electoral conditions, or they will withdrew additional relief.
