Star Metro - Former Chavez rival registers to challenge Maduro in Venezuela polls

Opposition party Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) registered Rosales "by automated means," the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced early Tuesday, just after the nomination window closed.

A former exile, mayor and ex-presidential candidate who lost to Hugo Chavez in 2006, Rosales is the current governor of the northwestern Venezuelan state of Zulia.

Moments before his registration was announced, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) said it had been unable to officially register its own candidate after it could not access the web platform.

"We have been working all day ... trying to exercise our constitutional right to nominate our candidate. This was not possible," coalition official Omar Barboza said in a video released by PUD early Tuesday.

Maduro, 61, meanwhile formalized his own run for the presidency with great fanfare on Monday, with thousands turning out to rally behind him and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

"I was moved by so much generosity and recognition on the part of the people for this humble man from the neighborhoods of Caracas, this humble worker," said Maduro, carrying an illustration of his mentor, revolutionary leader Chavez.

The former bus driver is seeking to extend his turbulent time in power with a third six-year term, amid rising concerns over his slide into authoritarianism and crackdown on the opposition.

Wearing a jacket in the red, yellow and blue of the Venezuelan flag, he called on his supporters to rally behind him, as the crowd chanted his name.

"Nicolas is the hope, he is the continuity of a project that Commander Hugo Chavez started," Pedro Mata, 52, told AFP at the rally.

However, opinion surveys show Maduro is not the favorite at the July 28 polls.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, 56, overwhelmingly won an opposition primary vote last year, and some surveys put her support at about 72 percent.

She was declared ineligible however, and banned from public office for 15 years by courts loyal to Maduro on charges of corruption widely dismissed as spurious, and for supporting Western sanctions against the government.

In her place, the opposition coalition had been trying to nominate 80-year-old university professor Corina Yoris.

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Just before the registration clock ran out, PUD said Monday night it had not yet received the necessary access codes to nominate Yoris on the CNE website.

"The system is completely closed," Yoris told a press conference.

"My rights as a Venezuelan citizen are being violated," she said.

She said that her team had gone in person to the CNE to deliver a letter requesting a three-day extension to the period to nominate candidates, but had been unable to do so.

In a joint statement, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay expressed concern over Yoris's inability to register.

Just as the nomination window was due to close, former opposition vice-president of the National Assembly Enrique Marquez announced his candidacy as an independent.

He said his bid had nothing to do with the opposition coalition. "This is autonomous, I am an independent politician," he said.

Several other candidates presenting themselves as opposition figures also registered, but most were considered aligned with Maduro's government.

The final list of presidential candidates will be published at the end of April.

UN chief Antonio Guterres last week warned against interference in the election.

Seven of Machado's party and campaign officials have been arrested, and warrants have been issued for several more, all accused of seeking to destabilize the country.

Six years later Maduro is still firmly in charge of the oil-rich nation after his rival's government collapsed and the war in Ukraine choked energy supplies and shifted global priorities.

F.Tremblay--SMC