Venezuela opposition leader urges presidential polls ‘as soon as possible’

PARIS: Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in an AFP interview on Tuesday urged presidential elections to be formally called “as soon as possible” to replace ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.
“The Venezuelan constitution is very clear and, in fact, states that in the event of a permanent vacancy — and no one can doubt that there is a permanent vacancy in the case of Mr. Nicolas Maduro — elections must be called within the next 30 days,” Machado said.
Venezuela’s opposition last week called for presidential elections, more than 90 days after the United States in early January abducted the authoritarian Maduro and his wife and took them to the United States.
The Venezuelan constitution says that “temporary absences of the president of the republic shall be filled by the executive vice president for up to 90 days, extendable by decision of the National Assembly for an additional 90 days.”
Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, however said that the right conditions should be in place before any elections to replace Maduro, who had ruled Venuezuela for 12 years.
First the country should appoint a new National Electoral Council made up of people “without any political ties,” and the voter roll should be updated.
At the moment, “40 percent of Venezuelans eligible to vote are not registered,” including those who have left the country, she told AFP in a video call after meeting President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday.
“All of this takes time, and we estimate that the sequence of all these actions will take around nine months from the moment a new National Electoral Council is appointed,” she said.