Hours after election officials reject María Corina Machado’s attempt to register as a candidate, President Nicolás Maduro announces his wife will run

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Venezuela’s first lady will run for the country’s congress, while an opposition leader has been formally barred from the contest.

Election officials rejected former congresswoman María Corina Machado’s attempt to register as a candidate on Monday for the 6 December congressional elections. Hours later President Nicolás Maduro announced that his wife, Cilia Flores, would be running for a seat.

Machado, an opposition leader, called the National Elections Council’s rejection of her candidacy a grotesque violation of her rights and the rights of all Venezuelans.

She is among the hardline opposition leaders who in 2014 called for Maduro to resign and helped lead sometimes bloody street protests demanding an end to the country’s socialist administration. The ruling party stripped her of her congressional seat amid the protests.

Beer shortages loom in Venezuela as troops occupy Caracas warehouse Read more

Machado has become one of the most visible faces of the opposition, continuing to lead protests against Maduro.

In July, elections officials barred her and a handful of other high-profile critics of the government from holding office. Officials said Machado failed to make required financial disclosures. The state prosecutor’s office has also accused her of conspiring to assassinate Maduro, a charge she denies as ridiculous.

The December election represents the opposition’s best chance in years to deliver a defeat to the 16-year-old socialist revolution ushered in by late President Hugo Chávez. Polls say the opposition is leading strongly as Venezuelans tire of chronic shortages, crime and inflation.

On Monday, Machado introduced a substitute candidate for the seat she had hoped to win: 70-year-old Caracas sociology professor Isabel Pereira.

The opposition coalition says the government is attempting to clamp down on its candidates out of desperation, and leaders have called for nationwide protests Saturday.

Flores was formerly the head of the National Assembly, and also served as Venezuela’s attorney general.

In announcing that she would run, Maduro said that his wife is her own person.

“She consulted me about it, and I told her, ‘You are free to fight your own battles because you have your own leadership qualities, your own space, and there is no machismo here that will limit you,’” he said.