Key takeaways
- Machado said on 29 October that the US has suggested 2027 presidential elections; Washington has announced no date.
- A senior State Department official described a new supreme court, then a new electoral council, then a six-month constitutional window.
- Acting President Delcy Rodríguez promised elections on 29 October without a date, deadline or mechanism for renewing the electoral council.
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said on Thursday 29 October that the United States has suggested presidential elections in Venezuela next year. Reuters reported her remarks from a televised press conference in Caracas. They were her first substantive public comments since she returned to the country on Sunday 25 October. Washington has not announced an election date.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who addressed the nation earlier on Thursday, also gave no date, according to MercoPress. Machado spoke in the Aula Magna of the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, where she graduated as an industrial engineer, according to El País. The backdrop read "Seamos libres" ("Let us be free"). US officials have described institutional steps on the record. None of their on-the-record statements fixes 2027.
What Machado said
Reuters quoted Machado: "The statements from the State Department in recent days … about the next steps, are very clear." By her account, those statements include the prompt appointment of a renewed National Electoral Council (CNE), compliance with constitutional deadlines and a presidential election next year. Reuters also reported that she said Secretary of State Marco Rubio has backed a 2027 vote.
AFP reported that she said Rubio "has set out a sequence of events aimed at moving toward a democratic transition that makes clear the holding of presidential elections in 2027." She thanked President Donald Trump and Rubio for the "action on January 3", when US forces captured Nicolás Maduro. She said she returned to "mobilize society" ahead of elections and would ensure that all eligible Venezuelans can cast ballots.
Reuters reported that she avoided responding when asked about Trump's January remark that she lacked enough support to lead the country immediately. Reuters also reported that she avoided a question about his remark this week that Venezuela could become the 51st US state.
Observers are reading: the on-the-record US statements, the Caracas address and the talks, set side by side to show what each one fixes.
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What to watch next
Machado has put a year on the public record. US officials and Rodríguez have so far put forward only steps and promises. Whether those steps become a published timetable is not yet known.
Several markers fall in November and December. Applications to join the 32-seat TSJ are open until Wednesday 11 November, and the fourth round of dialogue is scheduled for 11 to 15 November, Harici reported. Under the Judicial Nominations Committee's timetable, the candidates it selects for the 32 seats are due to be presented to the National Assembly on 11 December, El Diario reported.
Figuera told El Nacional this month that presidential elections should take place at least by late 2027 or early 2028, once institutional guarantees are in place. That is the view of the opposition delegation's leader, not an official date. César Batiz, director of El Pitazo, said it was a projection, not a date that had been agreed or officially announced. What remains open is whether the institutional steps become a published calendar, and how hard Washington presses the Rodríguez government toward a vote.
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