Maria Corina Urges Venezuelans Not to Vote on May 25
“Empty the Streets”, she says
HAVANA TIMES – Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado once again urged the Venezuelan people not to vote in the upcoming regional and parliamentary elections on Sunday, May 25.
In a brief video message shared on her social media, she reiterated that the process to renew members of the National Assembly, the 24 state governors, and regional legislators “is a farce” in which people should not participate (as a response to the stolen presidential election of July 2024).
“May 25 is not an election, it is a farce, it is a trap. That’s why I’m asking something very simple of you: this Sunday, stay home, don’t go out, don’t obey them, empty the streets, empty them out so they’re left alone,” said the coordinator of Vente Venezuela, who has been in hiding since August 2024.
She only appeared in public on January 9, the day before Nicolas Maduro’s presidential inauguration, during a massive rally in Chacao municipality. The event ended in confusion when she was briefly detained by security forces, although the Maduro government denied involvement in her momentary arrest.
Machado has called for an election boycott since early 2025
Since the beginning of the year, Machado has declared that participating in the regional and parliamentary elections was not an option, defending Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia’s overwhelming victory in the July 28, 2024 presidential election, despite the National Electoral Council—without presenting official results—declaring Nicolas Maduro the winner.
On Wednesday night, she added in her message, “Let it be clear who holds the power: you,” stressing that people should not go to the polls. Her stance has been supported by Gonzalez Urrutia and the vast majority of parties within the Democratic Unitary Platform, except for Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), led by Manuel Rosales, and a faction of Primero Justicia led by former opposition presidential candidate and former Miranda governor, Henrique Capriles. The Movimiento Por Venezuela (MPV) also supported that position, though the CNE barred the organization from fielding candidates.
Nevertheless, Rosales registered as a candidate in Zulia in an attempt to return as governor of the western state, while the Comptroller General lifted Capriles’s disqualification, allowing him to register on a national ticket to run for a seat in the National Assembly.
Also on Wednesday, from Spain, Gonzalez Urrutia reiterated that “there is no free campaign, no transparent and fair process as an election should be,” describing the elections as “theater” in comments to Efe after participating in a political forum alongside former liberal and conservative leaders from Ibero-America.