Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez pledged at the United Nations that the country will hold elections and allow all political forces to participate, but she did not announce when a vote would take place.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez told world leaders Wednesday that her country will hold elections as part of a transition toward what she called “full democracy,” offering the pledge months after the capture and removal of former President Nicolas Maduro but stopping short of setting a date for a national vote.
Speaking before the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Rodriguez said her government has opened talks with opposition groups and is preparing Venezuelan institutions for an electoral process in which all political forces would be allowed to participate.
Reuters confirmed that Rodriguez promised elections but gave no timetable, leaving one of the most consequential questions surrounding Venezuela’s political transition unresolved.
“This is the time to build the nation that many people want to return to,” Rodriguez said, while acknowledging that Venezuela’s recovery “will take time.”
Rodriguez assumed leadership after U.S. forces captured Maduro during a January military operation and removed him from the country. Maduro was transported to New York to face federal drug-trafficking charges. Rodriguez, who had served as Maduro’s vice president, subsequently became acting president.
Her U.N. appearance represented one of the most prominent international moments for Venezuela’s post-Maduro government and came one day after she met President Donald Trump in New York.
According to The Associated Press, Rodriguez praised Trump for his willingness to reestablish relations with Venezuela following Maduro’s removal.
Trump and Rodriguez met Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in their first face-to-face encounter since the January operation. Their meeting followed months of growing engagement between Washington and Caracas on Venezuela’s political transition and economic recovery.
Rodriguez used Wednesday’s address to emphasize that political participation would extend beyond her government’s supporters.
Her government has begun a dialogue with opposition sectors, she said, and national institutions are being prepared to conduct elections.
The pledge comes after years of international disputes over the credibility of Venezuelan elections under Maduro and amid pressure from Washington and Venezuelan opposition groups for political reforms.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said following Trump’s meeting with Rodriguez that the president emphasized political change and the importance of free and fair elections during their discussions, according to Reuters.
Rodriguez did not specify what offices would be contested, when voting would occur or what electoral safeguards would accompany the process.
That absence of a timetable leaves the scope and timing of the promised transition uncertain.
Rodriguez has remained Venezuela’s acting leader beyond the initial 90-day period established after Maduro’s removal. The country’s Supreme Court had initially placed her in the presidency temporarily following the January operation, but no replacement or election occurred when that period expired.
Her government has since pursued diplomatic and economic engagement with the United States and international financial institutions.
A Venezuelan delegation led by Rodriguez arrived in New York for meetings surrounding the General Assembly that included discussions with international institutions over debt restructuring, energy development, mining and Venezuela’s broader economic recovery.
Those talks are unfolding alongside political negotiations over the country’s future.
Rodriguez’s announcement Wednesday represents an explicit commitment from the interim government that elections will form part of that process, but the absence of a date means the extent and pace of the promised democratic transition remain to be determined.
For Rodriguez, the message at the United Nations was that Venezuela is entering a new political phase after Maduro’s removal and that rebuilding the country will require both electoral change and time.
“This is the time to build the nation that many people want to return to,” she said.
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