2023-10-23 13:04:15
Maria Corina Machado, October 22, 2023, in Caracas, during the results of the primaries organized by the opposition for the presidential election in Venezuela in 2024. FEDERICO PARRA / AFP
In the primary organized on Sunday October 22 by the Venezuelan opposition for the 2024 presidential election, the announced victory of Maria Corina Machado turned into a tidal wave. Around midnight, the first estimate from the National Primary Commission (CNP), responsible for organizing the vote, gave the 56-year-old liberal candidate the winner with 93.13% of the votes, while 26.06% of the ballots were votes were counted. Ms. Machado, 56, should theoretically face President Nicolas Maduro at the polls, who, in power for ten years, will seek a third term. However, for the moment, Ms. Machado is ineligible. An obstacle that she hopes to see removed by the vote.
“What we saw today is a citizen wave inside and outside Venezuela,” declared the candidate shortly before this announcement. CNP President Jesus Maria Casal explained that the publication of the results was delayed due to a blockage of the organization’s Internet server. The vote was organized by the opposition, after months of debates and internal disputes, without the help of the electoral authorities.
“The real victory today is seeing so many people in front of the polling stations! », rejoiced Ana Contreras, a voter from Caracas. In Venezuela and in 28 countries around the world where polling stations were set up, the turnout exceeded all the hopes of the opposition. According to the CNP, more than 2 million voters (out of a total of 20) came to vote. “There were huge queues in front of the polling stations. This is proof that people want change and that they want democratic change.”, continues Ana Contreras. She confides: “I never liked Maria Corina Machado, whom I find very radical, but I voted for her. This is our last hope. »
An opponent from the start
“I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s a miracle.”, commented Ms. Machado before voting in Caracas. An engineer by training, Ms. Machado has been an opponent from the start. Elected deputy in 2012, she has never spared her criticism against the Chavista team and, on occasion, against the leaders of the opposition, considered too complacent with those in power. At the head of the Sale Venezuela party that she founded, Ms. Machado has long gone it alone. And often called on voters to boycott the elections.
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It is defined as “centrist” but its ultraliberal economic program and its plan to privatize the oil company PDVSA places it very right within the opposition. “It’s not the end but it’s the beginning of the end”declared, radiantly, the candidate, after the announcement of the first results, calling for a “grand national alliance to defeat tyranny”. For more than twenty years, Ms. Machado has wanted to do battle with Bolivarian socialism.
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