A meeting of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) will vote on March 15 for its candidate to run in the upcoming presidential election, scheduled to take place in Venezuela in July, PSUV Vice President Diosdado Cabello has said.
"[Party's] caucuses should order that our party meeting be held on March 15 so that the meeting, which is the last instance, will ratify the proposal [of candidates] made by party members," Cabello told a news conference on Wednesday, aired by Venezuelan broadcaster VTV.
The official candidate running from the PSUV has yet to be selected, but Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez in February named incumbent President Nicolas Maduro a future presidential candidate.
The opposition candidate of the 2024 election and the winner of Venezuela's opposition primary in October 2023, Maria Corina Machado, has not been allowed to run for the post. In January 2024, Venezuela's Supreme Court upheld a 2021 ruling that banned Machado from running for public office for 15 years and similarly upheld a 2017 ruling that barred former Miranda State Governor and twice presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski from running for public office.
Washington has reportedly warned Caracas that a number of sanctions that had been lifted will be reimposed from April if Machado is not allowed to participate in the election. Venezuela has called these statements a blackmail and threatened retaliatory measures in migration.