Venezuela Election Primary: Opposition Unites Around Ex-Lawmaker Maria Corina Machado as She Prepares To Challenge Nicolas Maduro

María Corina Machado, a former lawmaker, may soon be challenging authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro as she dominates the Venezuela election primary with over 90% of the vote.

A very vocal critic of the Hugo Chavez regime and his protegee, Nicolas Maduro, Maria Corina Machado has gotten nearly 93% of the total number of votes, with only 65% of the votes being counted. She has not yet been officially announced as the winner, but during an early morning rally, she has already announced victory as she now prepares to challenge Maduro.

According to the Associated Press, while the counting of ballots is still far from over, her lead is so big that she is now more or less the opposition candidate against Maduro. While Machado had 1,473,105 votes, or 93%, her closest competitor only had 70,819 votes, which is only around 4% of the votes.

Venezuela is currently facing a massive socio-economic crisis as thousands of Venezuelans flee the country to look for better living elsewhere, particularly the US. After a decade of Maduro's leadership, millions of Venezuelans turned out to vote for a possible alternative to the crisis-plagued Maduro administration.

The voter turnout was a lot bigger than what even international observers were expecting.

"The projection for overall turnout, both internally and externally, looks like it's going to be anywhere between 6% and 9% of the register, and that's pretty big," Americas Program director of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies Ryan Berg told the AP. "That's greater than many people expected."

Despite this, however, the Maduro administration claimed on state-owned TV that the opposition was inflating the results and called the contest an "electoral farce." However, international observers say his claims are "far from reality."

María Corina Machado Declares Victory as Venezuela Election Primary Voting Continues

Despite the vote counting being far from over, Machado has a lead so big that she has already declared victory.

"Today a very powerful force has been unleashed," said the former lawmaker.

She then blasted the Maduro regime for its "tyranny."

Machado was actually banned by the Maduro regime from holding public office back in June over her support of US-led sanctions against the government. However, the US and Venezuela have agreed that should the South American country hold free and fair elections, the sanctions would be lifted. As a sign of goodwill, the US eased some of the sanctions.

María Corina Machado Unites Venezuela's Fractured Opposition

Despite citizens being frustrated with Nicolas Maduro plunging the country into a crisis, the Venezuelan opposition had been so fractured that no single candidate could come out as the clear challenger to Maduro after opposition leader Juan Guaido was exiled to the US. However, during the election, the opposition may now have their leader in Maria Corina Machado.

As the BBC pointed out, the Venezuelan opposition has historically been deeply divided and had to call for a primary election just to choose a new leader. However, with over 90% of the votes, the voice of the people could not be denied, and they wanted Machado to challenge Maduro.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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