Venezuela's Supreme Justice Tribunal ordered on Friday to uphold a ban on the opposition presidential candidate, Maria Corina Machado, from running for office.
The person in question is a former lawmaker who won the opposition's independently run presidential primary in October last year with over 90% of the vote. Her victory came despite the local government announcing a 15-year ban on her running for office only a few days after she formally entered the race last June.
Despite the ban, Machado was able to participate in the primary election because the effort was completely organized by a commission that was independent of the country's electoral authorities. She had rejected the ban and continued to campaign for president, arguing that she never received an official notification of the ban.
Machado insisted that Venezuelan voters were the rightful decision-makers of her candidacy for the president's office. In December, the opposition presidential candidate filed a claim with the Supreme Tribunal of Justice to confirm that the ban against her was null and void, and to pursue an injunction to protect her political rights, as per Fox News.
However, the country's high court ruled against her and upheld the ban on her running for office. Preventing Machado and other presidential candidates from running would go against an agreement between the government of President Nicolas Maduro and U.S.-backed opposition figures last year.
That particular agreement was signed by the opposing sides in October last year on the Caribbean island of Barbados. It prompted the U.S. government to ease some sanctions on Venezuela's oil, gas, and mining industries.
However, United States President Joe Biden's administration has threatened to reverse some of the relief if Maduro's administration fails to lift bans that prevent Machado and others from holding office. This would also be the case if it failed to release political prisoners and wrongfully detained U.S. citizens.
Banning Opposition Candidates
The high court's ruling comes as many analysts cited Machado's popularity as giving her the chance to pose the biggest challenge that the Maduro regime has faced in recent years. They argued that the current ruler would do anything in his power to keep the opposition candidate's name off the ballot, according to Yahoo News.
The chief of staff at the Wilson Center in Washington, Eddy Acevedo, said that it was not surprising that Maduro was not allowing Machado to run in the presidential race. He argued that the Venezuelan president is afraid of the possibility of losing in a free and fair election.
Acevedo added that from the start, the Barbados agreement was not worth the paper that it was written on. He argued that the U.S. now needs to respond with decisive action by snapping back all sanctions on Venezuela, including the removal of oil licenses.
The situation comes after Maduro on Thursday warned that a deal with the political opposition for elections to be held later this year was in danger of collapse. He argued that this was a result of what he described as "conspiracies" against him, said Reuters.
