María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize 2025, called for a specific electoral calendar to be established for presidential elections in Venezuela within the next year, in an opinion piece published in the New York Post on Sunday and distributed in Spanish by her party Vente Venezuela.
The opposition leader suggested that setting a date is the next strategic step to consolidate the political process initiated after the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026.
"The next strategic step is to set a date for the presidential elections within the next year, along with a roadmap for the necessary reforms to ensure that they are free and fair," wrote Machado.
The opposition leader argued that a defined timetable would provide Venezuelans with a framework to organize and participate, and she dismissed the argument that calling elections could lead to instability: in her view, the opposite would occur.
"The Venezuelans need to know when," he stated, recalling that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has declared that Venezuela must hold free elections.
Machado also announced that he considers his return to the country urgent in order to strengthen citizen organization and promote an agreement between civilians and the military.
"I must be there," he pointed out, announcing that he will travel across Venezuela to prepare the country for institutional and economic reconstruction.
The leader warned that chavismo retains a significant share of power despite Maduro's capture.
"That regime still retains a lot of power. If the pressure eases while it maintains de facto control, it will return to its old methods," he wrote.
In economic terms, Machado projected that Venezuela could produce over five million barrels of oil daily with estimated investments of around 200 billion dollars, but he conditioned this outlook on the existence of legal security, respect for contracts, and a state of law.
"Venezuela will respect contracts, protect private property, and build a lasting strategic alliance with the United States," he promised.
The article comes at a time of increasing pressure on Delcy Rodríguez's government, who that "there will be elections in Venezuela," but without setting a date or timeline, and stated that "the Venezuelan people, with their ancestral wisdom, will determine the right moment."
Rodríguez's approval has collapsed: according to data from AtlasIntel collected by Bloomberg, only 24.6% of Venezuelans support his administration, compared to a 60.5% disapproval rate.
Machado's return to Venezuela remains blocked. Recently, her team reported three new failed attempts to return from Panama: one by sea and two by air. The second involved a private flight to Aruba that did not receive takeoff authorization, while the third was aimed at Curacao and Bonaire and also did not materialize. The chavismo, through its chief negotiator Jorge Rodríguez, denied any responsibility for the blockage.
Machado used the election of July 28, 2024, as a reference, in which the opposition supported the candidacy of Edmundo González Urrutia after their own disqualification, and claimed victory amidst allegations of massive fraud.
The proposal to set **July 24, 2027** —the birthday of Simón Bolívar— as the election date, promoted by Republican Senator **Bernie Moreno**, has the public support of Machado. In her article, the leader stated that integrating Venezuelans into the process through an electoral calendar would solidify the progress made following the capture of Maduro and contribute to turning it into a lasting strategic victory.
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