Anti-Chavista opposition attempts to come to power

After the National Electoral Council declared Nicolas Maduro the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election, the opposition has called the results “fraudulent.” “Venezuela has a new elected president and he is Edmundo Gonzalez, and everyone knows it,” said opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

Overcoming a period of divisions that deepened since Juan Guaidó’s self-proclamation as interim president five years ago, the anti-Chavista opposition came together around the candidacy of former ambassador González Urrutia in this Sunday’s election.

In January 2019, a few months after the presidential elections in which Maduro re-validated his mandate amid allegations of fraud, Guaidó, a young politician who had been named president of the National Assembly, declared himself interim president of the country, justifying his move with several articles of the Constitution and with the support of the Donald Trump government in the United States and dozens of countries in the Americas and Europe.

After Guaidó’s self-proclamation in 2019, the Chavismo-controlled Constituent Assembly withdrew his immunity, he was disqualified and, although he was re-elected in parallel by the National Assembly, he gradually lost power. The EU and the opposition itself stopped calling him “president” and in late 2022, most opposition parties decided to disband the “interim government”. Guaidó left the country in April 2023 and moved to Miami, where he lives with his family. Soon after his departure, the prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant against him.

The opposition parties then have their eyes set on the 2024 presidential elections, in which they are represented by González Urrutia. “The confrontational strategy failed with the Guaidó operation. The opposition redirected itself to institutional means,” Anna Ayuso, Latin America researcher at ElDiario.es, told elDiario.es. think tank CIDOB. In his opinion, after this Sunday’s elections, the opposition “is left in a very weak position.” He added, “Probably this unity they had to fight for the elections will break down again.” He also reminded that parliamentary and local elections will be held in 2025.

Who is Edmundo González Urrutia

Edmundo González Urrutia says he was at home watching a movie the day he learned he would be the candidate to face Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela’s presidential election. It was a Saturday afternoon and he received a call to attend a meeting in which they told him they would nominate him as a provisional candidate for the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). That was not expected.

González Urrutia is 74 years old. A career diplomat, academic and expert in international relations, he began his career in the early 70s as director of international policy and in charge of the Coordination and Strategic Planning Committee in the Rafael Caldera government. He was ambassador to Algeria and Argentina during the 90s and, during his administration, he promoted Venezuela’s integration into Mercosur, an economic group made up of several South American countries. He left his diplomatic post more than 20 years ago, when Hugo Chávez was still in power.

Since the early 2000s he has been part of the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), first as an adviser and later as executive secretary, with a very low profile. Those who talk about him define him as a trained and quiet man. Until three and a half months ago, it was not in his plans to hold any other public office. Much less a popularly elected position. And, without a doubt, even less that of president. He was retired and devoted most of his time to his family. “I accept the immense honor and responsibility of being the candidate of all those who seek change through electoral means,” González said upon being chosen as the opposition candidate for the presidential election.

From “cover candidate” to opposition representative

To talk about Edmundo González we must talk about another key character: María Corina Machado, right-wing politician and the brain of the Venezuelan opposition. And for this you have to go back a few months.

Venezuela faced strong international rejection. Nicolás Maduro re-validated his mandate in the 2018 presidential elections amid allegations of fraud. But in October 2023 he signed a partial agreement with the opposition: if free elections were guaranteed, the United States would be willing to lift the sanctions imposed on Venezuela.

In this framework, primary elections were held to define the opposition candidate, in which María Corina Machado won 92.6% of the vote, promoting the participation in the presidential elections through a coalition of opposition parties: the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD). “The primaries have broken the logic of divide and rule, fragmenting the opposition forces,” analyzes Carmen Beatriz Fernández, a Venezuelan expert in political communication and professor at the University of Navarra.

This push, in late 2023, fell apart a few months later. In January 2024, the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed Machado’s political ineligibility for 15 years. I could not compete. Although at first he assured that there would be no more candidacies, the strategy changed in the following months. At first he promoted the 80-year-old philosopher Corina Yoris, acclaimed among academics although unknown to a large part of the population, who was unable to even register.

The deadline to decide who would be the opposition candidate was approaching and there were intense internal discussions from time to time. Some parties wanted to support Manuel Rosales, governor, former mayor and candidate in the 2006 presidential elections, who stood against Hugo Chávez. This was the bet of the Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) party. But, eventually, Rosales dropped out and the coalition platform chose Edmundo González Urrutia, an unknown character at the national level. González took what is known in Venezuela as the “tapa candidate” or “guard position”. An option to ensure the Democratic Unitary Platform’s place on the ballot.

The idea was to keep him as a reserve while they managed to resolve María Corina Machado’s situation or another candidacy was obtained. González said in interviews that he himself was surprised by his application and that he “never thought of being in this position.” He became the leader of the opposition in a country where, as international organizations have documented, people who criticize the government have been detained and where candidates have been detained. Report threats and attacks,

The coalition confirmed González Urrutia as the definitive candidate and all the block parties, including Rosales himself, backed him. The main thing was the support, especially that of María Corina Machado. “Edmundo González is receiving the support of María Corina Machado’s votes at the request of María Corina Machado,” explains Benigno Alarcón, director of the Center for Political and Government Studies.

Machado and González launched an intense campaign that involved touring the country for three months so citizens could get to know the candidate. Fernández defines it as a “tandem campaign,” like a two-seater bicycle. “Maria Corina drives the wheel and Edmundo pedals,” he says.

González Urrutia called in rallies and interviews to “find reconciliation among Venezuelans.” For weeks he led voting intentions in some polls, in which he led Nicolás Maduro by a wide margin. This Sunday, the National Electoral Council declared the Venezuelan president the winner with 51.2%, while González Urrutia received 44.2% of the vote.