CALD Statement on Venezuelan Opposition Leader Maria Corina Machado’s Ban from Public Office

We in CALD have witnessed, time and again, how dictators circumvent the electoral process to perpetuate themselves in power.  Most recently, we have seen this in the disqualification of the Candlelight Party of Cambodia to participate in the upcoming July 23 general elections because the government arbitrarily made the original registration paper of the party (circa 1998) a requirement to register in the elections. In 2021, Hong Kong authorities arrested many members of the democratic opposition on grounds that they organized and participated in the primaries for the postponed 2020 Legislative Council Election, which, according to the authorities, could be considered “subversion” under the Beijing-imposed national security law.

It is in this regard that we question the timing and motive behind the imposition of a 15-year ban from public office on Maria Corina Machado, one of  the most favored to be the opposition unity candidate in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections. The ban, supposedly for supporting sanctions of the United States against the Maduro government and for backing a former opposition leader, appears to be politically motivated, anti-democratic, arbitrary and a violation of her fundamental political rights.  It also deprives the Venezuelan people of the right to freely choose their candidate for the upcoming elections without interference.

CALD calls on appropriate UN agencies and democratic governments, especially the United States and the European Union, to engage the Venezuelan government to ensure that free and fair elections will take place with full participation of the political opposition.  Moreover, it joins Liberals and Democrats globally in expressing solidarity with Ms. Machado.

For the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats:

Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan

Chairperson

6 July 2023