VENEZUELA: Opposition parties have condemned the banning of Corina Yoris from running in the presidential election.

However, he could not register with the National Electoral Council (CNE) due to the disqualification from public office imposed on him by the Comptroller General of the Republic.

Polls published up until then showed Machado could defeat President Nicolás Maduro in an open election environment.

After the disqualification, the PUD chose as its candidate Corina Yoris, who had never participated in politics before and had no qualifications.

“We have exhausted all the means at our disposal so that this can be resolved,” Yoris told a press conference in the past few hours.

“From the same day, Thursday 21st at 6 am (registration process opened) we tried to access the system properly and it was not possible,” they wrote on the X account of the Twitter site.

The opposition demanded that the deadline for candidate registration be extended by three days, which was done on other occasions.

However, the deadline for registration with the National Electoral Council (CNE) ended at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, the company's president, Elvis Amoroso, announced.

By the end of the deadline given by the CNE, a total of 12 nominations had been submitted, with the exception of Nicolás Maduro, belonging to parties and coalitions with little electoral weight. Now the CNE has to review them.

Amoroso said they will carefully review the documents and requirements to verify whether or not the registered candidates meet the requirements to be a presidential candidate.

The current president of Venezuela formalized his entry after a parade around part of the city until reaching the CNE.

Among the candidates who call themselves opponents of Nicolás Maduro but are outside the Unitary Platform are Manuel Rosales, who was a presidential candidate in 2006; Javier Bertucci, a 2018 candidate, and Benjamin Rousseau, the comedian best known for his role in “The Count of Guacharo.”

At the last minute, Enrique Márquez, former rector of the National Electoral Council, registered with Centrados, a political platform initially rejected by the CNE but re-accepted this Monday.

In statements to the press, Márquez indicated that he presented himself as an independent candidate and disagreed with the unitary platform about his candidacy.

Márquez was executive vice president of the opposition party Un Nuevo Tiempo until he was fired and suspended for supporting the 2018 presidential elections.

It is not yet known whether the Unitary Platform will support this candidacy as it is impossible to register Yoris.

For his part, the historian said the government is leaving the country with no other option through the CNE.

“Not only the rights of Corina Yoris are violated, but also the rights of political parties to present a candidate representing that unity, and it also denies the rights of the Venezuelan people to nominate and elect the candidate they want to elect,” declared the university professor.

Yoris, an 80-year-old academic, is unknown even in opposition circles. The fact that he was a political novice was seen as an advantage by the coalition, which argued that it made it difficult for his opponents to discredit him.

Maduro presented his candidacy for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Psuv), hinting that “elections will take place with or without rights” on July 28, and noted that the opposition has “puppets and puppets”.

“They (the last names) are drawn in front of imperialism, they are maps, they have personal ambitions, their aim is to give the country in the grip of the North American Empire, they are hopeless, nothing, a failed past,” he revealed.

According to Maduro, five million chavistas expressed their desire to nominate their names.

He also pointed out that as of this Monday, 10 candidates have been registered by more than 35 organizations. “Maybe even more, it's a full democracy,” he said.

Maduro has been in power since 2013.

“We're going to win by hook or by crook, we're always going to win,” he told his supporters last month.

The Unitary Platform's inability to register its card for these elections has caused controversy inside and outside of Venezuela.

There are several countries that have rejected what happened, including the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, which expressed their “serious concern” about “continued obstacles” in registering presidential candidates. Venezuela before the National Electoral Council.

“These restrictions prevent progress towards elections that will allow the democratization process to take place in sister Venezuela,” said a statement released by Uruguay's foreign ministry with the approval of the aforementioned governments.