This Friday, March 15, in Venezuela, is the proclamation of the candidacy of Nicolas Maduro, candidate for his re-election for the presidential election on July 28. A candidacy which was expected, but in a context of unpopularity of the current head of state. Once, the latter adapts the rules of the democratic game in his favor.
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With our correspondent in Caracas, Alice Campaignolle
If Nicolas Maduro never had the popularity of his predecessor Hugo Chavez, he is today at the bottom of opinion polls. So, he needs to put strategies in place, as Benigno Alarcon, professor of political science, explains.
“ People who support Maduro, he said, that’s about 9% of the population. But the Chavista tendency, his party, is 20%. So what are his options? First, his party must vote for him, even the members who do not agree with his policies, so he deploys a lot of effort to keep the memory of Chavez alive, this is particularly why the Election takes place on his birthday. »
Nicolas Maduro also seeks to ensure that voters who are not in favor of him simply do not go to the polls. “ The government does not help young people to register to vote, because the young vote is anti-government. There is only one registration office in each region », denounces Professor Alarcon.
And the most radical measure of all is obviously the ineligibility of the leader of the opposition, Maria Corina Machado, prohibited by a justice system at the behest of power from running in an election for fifteen years.
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