After the beginning of the electoral campaign period for the primary elections in Venezuela, the regime of Nicolás Maduro appointed a new president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), the electoral body of the country. The institution’s new leader is comptroller Elías Amoroso, an official known for politically disqualifying members of the opposition in his position as a deputy for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), the country’s ruling party. Amoroso has prevented multiple opposition candidates from running in the elections, measures that have been rejected by the United States and the European Union for violating “basic political rights.”
Maduro’s decision to suddenly change the president of the CNE has been criticized by hundreds of members of the opposition and by the country’s media, since the change of the president will affect opposition candidates in the primaries on 22 October. Amoroso will replace Pedro Calzadilla, who resigned in June along with the other seven CNE directors, only two of whom were from the opposition. New CNE members include Rosalba Gil, Carlos Quintero, Aime Nogal, and Juan Carlos Delpino. Three of the five new rectors of the CNE are supporters of the Maduro government and only two belong to the Venezuelan opponents.
According to the country’s sources, Amoroso’s nomination took place after Washington expressed that the North American country is ready to ease sanctions against Venezuela, but only if Maduro takes concrete steps to call free elections. Although the North Americans are in favor of a possible election day, the United States does not prohibit Maduro from restructuring the CNE so that it is full of his supporters.
According to the Venezuelan media, the decision of the National Assembly of Venezuela to change the rectors of the CNE is a strategy to control the upcoming elections. The candidate who wins the primaries in 2024 will face a PSUV candidate, assumed to be Maduro, although he has not confirmed this. That said, if Maduro wins the presidential election, he will aim to rule for a third six-year term.
In June, the National Assembly prohibited former deputy and candidate María Corina Machado, the most supported opposition candidate in the primaries, from holding public office for 15 years. In addition, the candidate Henrique Capriles has also been banned from holding public office, after running twice as a political candidate and coming close to winning the presidential elections in 2013. According to the Venezuelan media, the country’s opposition fears that the arrival of Amoroso can prevent opponents from achieving legitimate results in primary and presidential elections.
