The Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), the main opposition coalition in Venezuela, announced this Tuesday that the provisional candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia for the presidential elections of July 28 was accepted by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The PUD explained that it chose González Urrutia as candidate due to the impossibility of presenting Corina Yoris, elected due to lack of competition from María Corina Machado, ineligible to exercise elective functions. González Urrutia may be replaced subject to any administrative sanction or legal obstacle, and if the CNE accepts the candidacy of his replacement.
With González Urrutia, there are already 12 candidates registered for the presidential elections, Manuel Rosales, Luis Brito, Luis Ratti, Enrique Márquez, Benjamín Rausseo, Luis Eduardo Martínez, Daniel Ceballos, Antonio Ecarri, Juan Carlos Alvarado, Javier Bertucci, Claudio Fermín and the current president, Nicolás Maduro.
The strategy of presenting a provisional candidate is common in Venezuela with the aim of “guaranteeing” a place on the ballot.
