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href="https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-President-Maduro-Happy-as-Elections-Move-to-May-20-20180301-0015.html">https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-President-Maduro-Happy-as-Elections-Move-to-May-20-20180301-0015.html</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Venezuela: President Maduro 'Happy' as
Elections Move to May 20<br>
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<div id="meta-data" class="meta-data">
<div id="reader-estimated-time">March 2, 2018<br>
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<p><strong>Venezuela</strong>'s <strong>presidential</strong>
candidates have agreed to delay the slated April 22 <strong>elections
</strong>until May 20, it has been announced, a move
welcomed by President N<strong>icolas Maduro</strong>.</p>
<p>Campaign chiefs <strong>Luis Romero</strong> for <strong>Henri
Falcon</strong>, and <strong>Jorge Rodriguez</strong>
for President Maduro, signed the agreement guaranteeing
that all parties would also respect the results of the
rescheduled elections.</p>
<p>Maduro posted his support for the new agreement on
social media, saying through his Facebook page on
Thursday that <strong>democracy</strong> and the
political rights of voters could only be guaranteed by
way of the ballot box.</p>
<p>"I want to go to a process of <strong>reconciliation</strong>
with all Venezuelans... I feel very happy and satisfied
with the agreement signed today with the opposition,"
Maduro wrote.</p>
<p>Communications Minister <strong>Jorge Rodriguez</strong>
told Reuters that Thursday's agreement with Falcon's <strong>Progressive
Advance</strong> party, and some other movements, was
evidence of a reconciliatory spirit that undercut
foreign criticism of autocratic rule in Venezuela.</p>
<p>"Venezuela is a model <strong>democracy</strong> for
the whole world," Rodriguez told reporters at the
election board headquarters.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Romero, who leads Falcon's party, said the
only way to bring about change was via the polls, and
not through protests similar to those that killed nearly
130 people last year.</p>
<p>"Venezuelans want to get rid of Maduro, but not by
killing each other in the streets," he said, also
speaking at the election board in downtown Caracas.</p>
<p>Romero and Rodriguez attended a press conference
Thursday at the <strong>National Election Counci</strong>l,
or <strong>CNE</strong>, where its chief <strong>Tibisay
Lucena </strong>announced the agreement and said a
date would be set as part of upcoming discussions
between the government and opposition parties.</p>
<p>"We invite all organizations with political ends to
participate in a <strong>dialogue</strong> of electoral
guarantees," Lucena told reporters at her council’s
headquarters as the two representatives signed the
agreement.</p>
<p>The agreement also establishes that the elections of
the members of <strong>state legislative councils</strong>
and of the <strong>municipal councils</strong> will
also take place at the same time as the <strong>presidential
election</strong>, on May 20.</p>
<p>After the agreement was signed, Lucena said the parties
"celebrate the signing of an electoral guarantee
agreement with the participation of the political
parties, who commit themselves before the country to
carry out the electoral process with greater tranquility
and <strong>transparency</strong>."</p>
<p>The president said that "this agreement ratifies the
dialogue in the <strong>Dominican Republic </strong>and
gives way to choosing our leaders and representatives
with the broadest electoral guarantees because the CNE
is committed and has complied with these agreements."</p>
<p>Six people have registered as candidates for the
presidential elections: current President Nicolas
Maduro, Falcon, Reinaldo Quijada, Francisco Visconti,
Luis Alejandro Ratti, and the evangelical pastor Javier
Bertucci.</p>
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