Venezuelan Election Laws are Designed to Guarantee Democracy Despite Personal Ambitions

APRIL 1, 2024

BY NINO PAGLICCIA

Venezuela has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world spearheaded by former president Hugo Chavez in 1999. Article 1 sets the tone: “The Republic of Venezuela is forever and irrevocably free and independent from any domination or protection by a foreign power.” This is binding to everyone in Venezuela. The constitution is supported by a strong set of regulatory legislation that is also applied judiciously by the different government bodies and Venezuelan institutions under a strict democratic process determined to defend its sovereignty and independence. One piece of legislation in particular is relevant these days as the country approaches a democratic presidential election on July 28. That is the Organic Law of Electoral Processes. However, one ambitious candidate is willing to break the law – and with it the democratic process – in order to succeed in her intentions.

If you hear the US based media and some government officials you would think that Venezuela is a dictatorship that prevents political parties and presidential candidates to participate in the elections. One Venezuelan candidate would also try to convince you of that. She is Maria Corina Machado who is a member of one of the old Venezuelan elite families that has lost its prominence after the more egalitarian government of Hugo Chavez, but most dangerously represent the rightwing Vente Venezuela party determined to get rid of president Nicolas Maduro at all costs.

Ms. Machado has a long history of violating Venezuelan laws in her eagerness to regain the family ascendance by vehemently and violently rejecting the more popular ideology of Chavismo. She has been doing so not by seeking the support of the Venezuelan people but by seeking foreign support instead, namely from the United States.

Quite predictably, Washington actively promotes her as the opposition candidate and by doing so it sets the stage for delegitimising the Venezuelan presidential election.

In a recent article titled “Yet again US meddles in another nation’s elections” Venezuelan Canadian author and analyst María Páez Victor writes that the US government totally disregards the fact that “in 2015, Machado was disqualified from running for public office for 15 years, for corruption and for representing a foreign country (Panama) while being a Parliamentary deputy, which is forbidden by the Constitution. This disqualification has been ratified by the highest court, Venezuela’s Supreme Court.”

More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/01/venezuelan-election-laws-are-designed-to-guarantee-democracy-despite-personal-ambitions/