Image source, EFE
Photo caption, Edmundo González has developed in the field of diplomacy and academia.Article information
- Author, Editorial
- Scroll, BBC News World
- April 20, 2024
Updated April 21, 2024
The Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) reported on Friday that, “unanimously”, it approved the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia for the presidential elections to be held in Venezuela on July 28.
“It will be a victorious campaign,” said Omar Barboza, executive secretary of the PUD, who confirmed that González “is registered” in the National Electoral Council.
The support for González arises after the candidacy of María Corina Machado, the leader chosen as a candidate in the primary elections held by the opposition alliance in October, and later of Corina Yoris, who had been designated as her replacement before the impossibility of presenting your candidacy.
Faced with this situation, the PUD reported, in March, in its X account that it had decided to “provisionally” register González “to preserve the exercise of the political rights that correspond to our political organization until we manage to register our unitary candidacy.”
The ratification of González as a candidate occurred one day before the deadline on which, according to the electoral schedule, substitutions could be made.
After his designation as a candidate, Machado published a video in which he stated: “We have taken another great step towards freedom.” He also congratulated himself because the opposition already has “a candidate who has been supported by everyone, by all political parties, by good citizens.”
Manuel Rosales, governor of the state of Zulia, who had registered as a candidate for the Un Nuevo Tiempo party, as he said, to maintain the possibility of defeating Nicolás Maduro at the polls until a unity candidacy was agreed upon, announced the withdrawal of his candidacy and the support of his training to that of Edmundo González.
“As we have always said, the future of Venezuela has to come first,” he said in his X account.
“This is great news for Venezuelan democrats who want change,” said Barboza.
Ambassador
Image source, Gaby Oráa/Reuters
Photo caption, Although Machado won the primaries organized by the opposition in 2023 to choose the candidate who will compete for the presidency of Venezuela, he will not be able to participate in the elections.
González, who is 74 years old, served as ambassador to Algeria between 1991 and 1993 and to Argentina in the early years of Hugo Chávez’s government.
He has published several books, including: “Democracy, Peace and Development”, “Venezuela and Colombia: a relationship of encounters and disagreements”, and “Venezuela-Argentina: two centuries of shared visions”.
As a member of the opposition, he was the international representative of the Democratic Unity Roundtable, between 2013 and 2015.
After the announcement of the PUD, reactions began to be seen in Venezuela and the most prominent figures of the opposition showed their satisfaction with the agreement reached.
“We have a candidate,” said Corina Yoris through the social network X. “Unity above all.”
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