2023-10-23 01:35:46
The liberal María Corina Machado emerges as winner of the primary elections of the opposition held this Sunday in Venezuela.
Experts estimate that around 1.5 million people have participated so far in this internal process, organized by the opposition itself by discarding the technical assistance of the National Electoral Council (CNE) after months of evasion by this authority, which finally proposed at the last minute postpone the process for a month to manage it.
“We have exceeded the expectations of the primaries“We have fallen short,” said the favorite candidate in the polls to unseat Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 presidential elections after voting this Sunday at the Martínez Centeno School in the Santa Eduvigis urbanization in Caracas.
At her side, Ricardo Sosa and Ana Corina Sosa, her two university student children, came especially from abroad to accompany her and vote with her mother in the election of the opposition inmates. The candidate had not seen them for more than 8 years because the Chavista regime has prohibited her from traveling abroad and has threatened her children.
To protect herself from threats, María Corina preferred to sacrifice herself and send her children to study abroad. “I have missed their birthday parties, their growth and school graduations, but I am calmer knowing that they are safe outside,” she confessed to Clarín in one of the interviews she gave us.
In the midst of the surprising and emotional meeting of her children, a smiling María Corina highlighted that this is an unconventional choice, It is an “unprecedented event” because each vote is one of ”conscience and challenge” to the oppressive regime.
The elections passed in a calm and normal manner as far as possible, despite being preceded by obstacles and sabotage imposed by Maduro’s Chavista regime throughout the five months that the process took to set up and organize the primaries. The government failed to try to liquidate them.
A voting station in Caracas, Venezuela. Reuters Photo
The voters who even went en masse to the electoral centers expressed the defiant and rebellious tone of ito vote against the current of Chavismo that he did not want to take place.
Volunteers
The 3,010 electoral centers had a high voter turnout with long lines of enthusiasts to vote despite the sun and heat in the squares. The event had more than 45,000 volunteers that were deployed in all corners of Venezuela to offer elections with the manual system, counting ballot by ballot, with the witnesses of 10 candidates. That is why the counting of the results was slow.
In the center of San Cayetano de El Marqués, Marvis Berlitz Chacón, 74, coordinator of one of the tables, told Clarín that she was struck by the lack of interest that the youth population has shown in the primaries. “Indifference, apathy and lack of motivation have been the sign of youth in these elections.”
Marvis Berlitz observes that the majority of voters in his center are elderly people, which is the population segment that has been left with the migration of 7.7 million Venezuelans who have fled abroad.
In the Los Palos Grandes urbanization the same situation is repeated. The ranks of elderly voters dominate the electoral climate. His children are abroad. Livia Schael, 81, is happy with how busy the square is. “It took me 10 minutes to vote. It was easy and I didn’t wait that long.”
At his side, Carlota Herrera, 71, said she was voting to change the government, “that’s good, we’re fed up with 24 years of Chavismo.”
The councilor of the Chacao municipality, Domenico Hellmeyer, 55, praised the organization of the primaries. “Everything has been perfect. It is an unprecedented event and there is a lot of participation. It is massive and we are going against the current of the Maduro government. It is a challenging democratic exercise because we are in a dictatorship.”
In the queue we found a young Rafael Villapol, 33 years old. “It is true that you do not see young people voting but it is because they have left the country with the wave of migration. It is not easy to make the decision to migrate to another country. I live with my mother and someone has to take care of her, and I’m not risky enough to leave and abandon her.
Another young woman, Astrid García, 36, expressed satisfaction that there was a large influx of voters in that center. “I am surprised and happy to see a massive vote.”
Two police officers who were guarding public order at the electoral center confirmed “everything is calm, there is no news on the front.”
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