Opposition Candidate Registers To Challenge Maduro

Governor of Zuila Province Manuel Rosales has been able to make it onto the ballot for the presidential election later in the year in a move that could provide some prospect of an open electoral contest in the 28 July election. Bloomberg reportsthat Rosales, part of the centre-left 'A New Era' party opposed to the gov't of President Nicolas Maduro, qualified for the ballot at the last minute having managed to navigate the automated enrollment system.

• Earlier, the main opposition Unitary Platform (PUD) confirmed that its preferred candidate, Corina Yoris, had been unable to get onto the ballot. PUD official Omar Barboza claimed that “They haven’t let us get in”.
• With no PUD candidate on the ballot it is unclear whether the main opposition grouping will lend its support to Rosales' campaign.
• Rosales was the main opposition candidate in the 2006 presidential election, losing to the late Hugo Chavez by a margin of 62.9%-36.9%.
• The US waiver on Venezuelan O&G is set to expire on 18 April. Tt is unclear whether allowing Rosales to run, but not a candidate from the main opposition bloc, will be enough to meet the conditions of the Norwegian-brokered Barbados Agreement regarding free and fair elections that the US is viewing as a threshold marker.