Venezuela rival ousts ex-governor over poll decision


FE Team | Published: February 28, 2018 14:02:04 | Updated: March 02, 2018 11:43:11


Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Henri Falcon talks to the media after registering his candidacy for president at the National Electoral Council (CNE) headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela February 27, 2018. Reuters.

A former Venezuelan state governor has been expelled from the opposition party over his decision to stand against President Nicolás Maduro in April's election.

The Democratic Unity opposition coalition is boycotting the vote.

It said Henri Falcón was wrong to validate what it called a fraudulent electoral system.

Falcón defended his decision, saying he wanted to defeat a government that had “promised Venezuelans paradise, but given them hell”.

Henri Falcón was a close ally of the late President Hugo Chavez but later joined the opposition, reports the BBC.

“We repudiate the unilateral registration of Henri Falcón,” Democratic Unity said on Twitter, referring to the election as a ‘farce’.

Falcón, who was governor of Lara state from 2008 until last year, said he wanted to stand “on behalf of millions of Venezuelans who want to live in dignity”.

He said he offered “a government of national unity... that can save us from the misery to which this incompetent government has taken us”.

Venezuela is going through a protracted political and economic crisis.

It has suffered for years from high inflation and a chronic shortage of food and medicines.

President Maduro has said elections would be held ‘with or without’ the Democratic Unity opposition coalition, which he accused of ‘erratic conduct’.

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