The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, assured that the open primary elections (EPA in spanish) of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV, held this Sunday, «are a tremendous contribution to consolidate peace in Venezuela.»
After exercising his right to vote at the Fort Tiuna Ecological School, the first national president offered a press conference, during which he affirmed that dialogue contributes to peace and that in his opinion the Open Primary Elections of the PSUV «are a tremendous contribution to the consolidation of peace and political dialogue, a demonstration of how direct democracy is exercised”.
Regarding this historic journey, he detailed that “the PSUV is setting an example of participatory direct democracy, true democracy. We believe in the way of the vote. Since we took the path of voting that April 19, 1997 in Valencia. The PSUV EPAs are a great vote of confidence to its militants, activists, street and community leaders. It’s a beautiful act in the field of politics”, he said.
He stressed that the PSUV primary elections mark a historic milestone “because they open the doors of participation to the PSUV rank and file. Today we can say the PSUV has leaders in all corners of the country”.
Decision of the sovereign people:
The Head of State took the opportunity to appeal to the Venezuelan people to exercise their right to vote this Sunday: “I call on all our compatriots, all Venezuelans, to go to their electoral center. Now it depends on you, at the end of the roads who makes the decision is the sovereign people.
He announced that once the voting process ends «tonight, at the closing of the polling stations, the CNE will proceed to totalize the results and we will know who will be the candidates for mayor and governor’s offices.»
He also announced that he will propose to the National Assembly that the holding of open primary elections be included in the Electoral Law for all the political parties that live in the country.
Place and date for dialogue in Mexico to be defined:
In political matters, the head of state affirmed that the exact time and place of the talks in Mexico will be announced in the coming days:
«Regarding Mexico everything is still to be said, that dialogue already has a document, the agenda has 7 titles that are being debated, in the next few days the time and place of the negotiation will be announced”, he stressed.
He recalled that there are three demands that the Bolivarian Government maintains firm for dialogue in Mexico: the lifting of sanctions against the Venezuelan economy and family, the acknowledgment of the legitimate institutions of Venezuela and the renunciation to conspiracy and violence:
«In the political dialogue for peace with the Guaido-ist opposition, we are doing well. We believe in dialogue as the way, as the way. The way is to find solutions, to understand and listen to ourselves”, he emphasized.
Regarding negotiations with the United States government, President Nicolás Maduro acknowledged that «today we do not have any communication with the White House, the only ones who have communication are the representatives of the Guaido-ist opposition, which belongs to them”.
However, he said that «we believe that the floodgates must be opened so that all oppositions participate, it is another demand that we make at the Dialogue Table”.