Sawt Falasteen - Maduro will 'no doubt' be presidential candidate: Venezuelan official

"I have my candidate," Diosdado Cabello, considered the Number 2 in the ruling "Chavismo" movement, told reporters, referring to Maduro who has been in office since 2013.

Maduro has not made any announcement himself, but is widely expected to seek a third, successive term. His re-election to a six-year term in 2018 was not recognized by the United States and dozens of other countries, and was met with a string of sanctions.

Cabello said the "rank and file" of the ruling PSUV party will choose a candidate in countrywide meetings in "an act of democracy" this week.

The candidate, who he was sure would be Maduro, will be announced on March 15.

"I have no doubt that this will be by consensus because our people are very clear about the titanic effort that our president Nicolas Maduro has been making at the head of the presidency of the republic fighting attacks, sanctions, blockades," Cabello told a press conference broadcast live on state TV.

On Tuesday, Venezuela's electoral authority CNE announced elections will be held on July 28 in the South American country in dire economic straits.

This came after Maduro's government and the opposition agreed in Barbados last year to hold a free and fair vote in 2024 with international observers present.

That deal saw the United States ease sanctions against the oil-rich South American country, allowing US-based Chevron to resume limited crude extraction and leading to a prisoner swap.

The agreement required that opposition candidates be allowed to appeal court rulings disqualifying them from holding office.

Since then, however, the Supreme Court loyal to Maduro upheld a 15-year ban on opposition primary winner Maria Corina Machado and others, prompting the United States to reinstate some sanctions.

In January, Maduro said the Barbados agreement was "mortally wounded" after government authorities claimed to have foiled numerous US-backed plots to assassinate him.

And Cabello subsequently said elections would be held "without the presence" of the United States or the Organization of American States -- contrary to the provisions of the Barbados deal.

"Our candidate is threatened, they have tried to threaten him several times," Cabello reiterated on Wednesday.

Maduro has increased his public appearances in recent weeks, ahead of the electoral campaign period that will officially open on July 4.

The vote will take place on the birthday of his predecessor Hugo Chavez, still hailed by many Venezuelans as a revolutionary hero.

M.Qasim--SF-PST