CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela’s main opposition coalition finally managed to registers new candidate as presidential aspirant.
The opposition succeeded in enrolling Edmundo Gonzalez Urruti, a little-known contender who had previously not been a top choice.
Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the National Electoral Council (CNE) have had to face multiple hurdles in registering their chosen election candidate.
The CNE released the name of Urruti, a former ambassador, as the candidate of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) without explaining why preferred presidential aspirant Corina Yoris had not been endorsed.
With popular opposition leader Maria Corina Machado banned from public office, the plan had been to enroll another stand-in candidate, Corina Yoris, an 80-year-old university professor. But the coalition was unable to do so by the time the deadline struck at midnight on Monday.
The CNE Tuesday released the surprise name of Edmundo Gonzalez Urruti, a political scientist and former ambassador. The coalition in a statement said that his candidacy was “provisional … given the clear impossibility of registering the chosen candidate so far.”
The United States and Brazil were among several countries which expressed alarm after the coalition found itself blocked in registering Yoris.
