Venezuela to Set Presidential Election Date Next Week, Diaz Says
Venezuela’s electoral council will meet Sept. 13 to decide the date for next year’s presidential election, said Vicente Diaz, a council rector.
Diaz, one of five members of the committee, denied speculation that the council will set a date in March on the orders of President Hugo Chavez. March would be too early, given that the opposition plans to hold primaries on Feb. 12, Diaz said in a phone interview.
“We’re going to discuss it and I hope that on Tuesday we’ll be able to announce it,” he said. “It wouldn’t make sense to have primary elections on Feb. 12, to then have presidential elections a month afterwards.”
Nelson Bocaranda, a columnist for the Caracas daily El Universal, wrote on his Twitter account today that an order had been sent from the presidential palace, Miraflores, to hold the elections in March.
“I have found out that the presidential elections will definitely be in March through a decision from Miraflores,” Bocaranda wrote.
Presidential elections traditionally take place in December, although there is no law to prevent them from being before then, Diaz said.
Chavez, who is receiving chemotherapy treatment for an undisclosed cancer, said on Sept. 7 he will appear more often in public by the end of October and will launch his presidential campaign at the start of 2012.
The self-declared socialist will seek a third consecutive six-year period in office after winning a referendum in 2009 to abolish term limits.
To contact the reporter on this story: Charlie Devereux in Caracas at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net.
Rate this Page