“This was not in our plans”said Mercedes López de González, wife of a 74-year-old retired diplomat who is now a candidate for Venezuela’s presidency.
Edmundo González, a “quite serious and above all sober man”came out of the shadows to become the candidate chosen by the political opposition who will appear on the electoral ballot—or card, as they call it in Venezuela—to compete at the polls with Nicolás Maduro, “the authoritarian leader with the longest time in power.” from Southamerica”.
Genevieve Glatsky, a Times reporter in the Andes bureau, wrote a profile of González, the unlikely candidate in the vote scheduled for July 28.
“Edmundo is not a man who has ever had political ambitions”Venezuela expert Phil Gunson told Genevieve.
The fact that González is a little-known figure to Venezuelans could be risky for the opposition coalition. “Some experts say his low profile could make it difficult for González to gain momentum among voters, especially outside of Caracas,” Genevieve wrote.
But most people, even in Venezuelan political circles, were unaware that González played that role until his presidential candidacy was announced, because opposition leaders are often persecuted.
María Corina Machado, former deputy and one of the most visible figures in Venezuelan politics, won the primary elections with more than 90 percent of the votes to be the candidate of an opposition coalition.
In January, the country’s Supreme Court disqualified Machado for alleged financial irregularities that occurred when she was a congressman. And the government prevented an opposition coalition from nominating another candidate shortly before the registration deadline.
After an extension of the electoral authority, the coalition managed to get González to officially register in the race.
It remains to be seen what happens in Venezuela in the run-up to the elections, but in the meantime, Tamara Taraciuk Broner, an expert on Venezuela, said: “Their main challenge will be to maintain that balance between keeping the opposition aligned behind a unified candidacy and ensuring that his candidacy does not represent an unbearable threat to the regime.”
With information from The Times
