After the announcement of the so-called unitary platform in which various political organizations identified with opposition extremism converge, on the call for internal elections to choose the opposition candidate for the 2024 presidential elections, the Copei party reported this Monday that it will not be part of this proposal.
For Juan Carlos Alvarado, national general secretary of COPEI, he confirmed his refusal to participate "after not receiving invitations to participate in the construction of the regulations and schedule of a possible primary election."
"Since November 2022, we have publicly announced our intention to participate in this consultation process to develop the regulations and the schedule," said Alvarado, who questioned this process.
"The least this body is aiming for is unity," he said, reiterating that the process, "rather than seeming like a primary, seems like an internal election between those who are part" of the so-called Unitary Platform, which is known as the G4 in reference to the four parties that dominate the decisions of this coalition, such as Ramos Allup's AD, Primero Justicia, Voluntad Popular and Un Nuevo Tiempo.
Those who say they are going
Until now, various names have emerged as opposition pre-candidates, including leaders of organizations associated with the G4 opposition extremism, such as Carlos Ocariz, Juan Pablo Guanipa and Henrique Capriles Radonski for Primero Justicia.
Added to these are Carlos Prosperi of the Acción Democrática (AD) dissident faction under the tutelage of Henry Ramos Allup; Manuel Rosales of the Un Nuevo Tiempo party; while Popular Will looks at Juan Guaidó, who until January of this year was part of the failed parallel government plan orchestrated by the extinct US administration of Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Delsa Solórzano has also decided to join this competition supported by the Encuentro Ciudadano party, a political organization founded by the former deputy after her departure from Un Nuevo Tiempo.
Candidates without primaries
In addition to Copei's refusal to participate in these primaries, other opposition parties that have raised the possibility of not being part of this process are those grouped together in the so-called "Democratic Alliance", which have in common having separated themselves from the adventure of the "interim government" and the promotion of abstentionism maintained by the members of the so-called G4.
First Venezuela with José Brito and AD with Bernabé Gutiérrez are the names that have emerged from some of the members of this alliance that since 2020 assumed the electoral path and describes the process promoted by extremists as exclusive.
disgruntled extremists
But this veto of the primary electoral process of the so-called Unitary Platform was joined by former allies of extremism who have become staunch critics of what they call the "G4 dictatorship," such as the former governor of the state of Bolívar, Andrés Velásquez of Causa R and María Corina Machado of Vente Venezuela, who have announced their candidacies and have emphasized that they will not be part of the proposed primaries.
"It's not a joke"
To this long list of candidates, which does not include other so-called "independent" candidates, has been added the name of Benjamín Rausseo, a well-known Venezuelan comedian who has made public his intention to run for president again, an announcement that, as he says, "is no joke."
Rausseo, better known as "The Count of Guácharo," was contacted by the commission of the Unitary Platform in charge of the primaries to invite him to participate in its primary process, for which the comedian has already appointed a representative to discuss this possibility with the leadership of the G4.
CNE waits for response
Former congresswoman Solórzano announced on February 8 that this Wednesday, February 15, they will announce "the date and schedule for the primaries" to choose a "unitary candidate" in 2024.
Amidst this maelstrom of announcements of candidates in the opposition sector and promises of announcing the date for this primary process, the National Electoral Council has offered its support for the holding of these primaries without having received a response to date from the promoters of these primaries, which have been ruled out by the first vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, who revealed that given the impossibility of an agreement between the oppositions, the candidate will be elected by "consensus."
"I say it and I stand by it; there will be no primaries, in fact, there are only two names left to be the candidate. They will remember me," he said, and he has been emphatic in pointing out that while the various opposition factions "fight" to choose a candidate, Chavismo is preparing its structures to guarantee victory in the presidential elections.
"If the CNE says that the elections will be in April, we are ready to guarantee a great victory," he said.
With information from Jesús Inojosa and Víctor Castellanos
