Venezuelan gov't, opposition agree to hold elections in 2024

Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The government of Venezuela and the opposition Unitary Platform have agreed to electoral conditions for presidential elections to be held in the second half of next year.

The agreement was signed by both sides on Tuesday in Bridgetown, Barbados, coming two years after the Norway-mediated negotiations first began and a year after that effort was suspended.

And though the agreement stipulates that the presidential election will be held in the second half of 2024, it does not include a provision to reinstate opposition politicians banned from office, such as frontrunner Maria Corina Machado.

"This path has not been easy, but thanks to the conscience and strength of our heroic people, little by little we are moving forward," Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro said in a statement.

"With the the signing of these agreements we are taking the first step toward the full lifting of all sanctions, the progressive recovery of social well-being, economic growth and the consolidation of peace and democracy, within the framework of full sovereignty and independence."

In a press conference, opposition delegate Gerardo Blyde Perez described the deal signed as a step in the right direction.

"In these two years we have insisted on seeking consensual solutions," he said. "Today, we can confirm that this fight has taken its first step toward the electoral route with conditions that allow political change."

Venezuela has been submerged in a political crisis since Maduro's widely discredited 2018 re-election.

Opposition politician and leader of the former interim government Juan Guaido challenged his rule with the backing of the United States and dozens of other nations that were heavily sanctioning Venezuela in an effort to unseat its authoritarian president.

But as the effort failed, international support waned for Guaido's government, and in response, opposition political parities and civil society formed the Unitary Platform in April 2021, and Norway-mediated negotiations that had been stalled since October 2021 resumed in November 2022.

However, Maduro had since been unwilling to return to the negotiating table, and the talks were suspended until on Monday, it was announced that the two sides had agreed to resume negotiations.

The Oslo government on Tuesday said that the government and opposition signed two agreements: one concerning political rights and electoral guarantees for all and another concerning the preservation of the country's assets and defending the Venezuelan territory and sovereignty.

The electoral agreement states that both sides agreed for the presidential election to be held in the second half of 2024, with commitments to allow for International election observers and media to oversee the process, among other conditions.

However, ahead of the meeting there was speculation that if an agreement was reached, the United States would repeal sanctions it has imposed against Caracas as it has repeatedly made the offer to do so "if the regime makes meaningful progress" that brings the country closer to the restoration of democracy.

In a joint statement with his European Union, Canadian and British counterparts on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they welcome the agreement but also called on Maduro to release those unjustly detained, ensure independence of the electoral process and judicial institutions and commit to extending freedom of expression to the press.

"We support a peaceful negotiated outcome that leads to fair and competitive elections and a return to economic stability and security," the Western allies said.

"We will work with our international partners and others to address the urgent needs of all Venezuelans inside and outside their country and to alleviate the humanitarian crisis."

The agreement was signed days before Venezuela is scheduled to hold a primary election to decide who will go up against Maduro in next year's election.