Venezuela will hold elections as part of a transition towards “full democracy”, interim President Delcy Rodriguez told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, although she stopped short of giving a date for the vote.
“I want to make this very clear at this General Assembly: there will be elections in Venezuela,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez came to power after US forces captured then-President Nicolas Maduro during a January raid.
She said her government had begun talks with opposition groups and would guarantee the participation of all political forces, adding that national institutions were being prepared for the electoral process.
“Venezuela has initiated a process of democratic transformation for its rebirth, an orderly, institutional, and verifiable process,” Rodriguez said, describing the goal as building a country that is “freer for all, more prosperous, and more reconciled with itself”.
However, no specific election date has been announced. The Venezuelan opposition has called for an autonomous Supreme Court and National Electoral Council as key conditions for holding elections.
Opposition Concerns
Rodriguez’s pledge comes amid criticism from some opponents and US lawmakers over the pace and conditions of Venezuela’s political transition.
Critics have accused Washington of placing greater emphasis on oil and investment deals with Rodriguez’s interim government than on securing democratic concessions.
Rodriguez said Caracas had opened political dialogue with opposition groups “aimed at a process with equal conditions for all”.
However, prominent opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado has been absent from those talks.
Machado left Venezuela late last year to receive her Nobel Prize after spending much of the period since the disputed 2024 presidential election in hiding.
Her team and media reports said she has been blocked from returning to Venezuela. Machado has said she wants to return to help with the response to devastating earthquakes that struck the country in June.
Phil Gunson, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, described Rodriguez’s election pledge as a “statement of the obvious”, noting that Venezuela’s constitution mandates an election in 2030 while the government has not committed to the 2027 timeline sought by the opposition.
He also pointed to concerns over whether all political figures would actually be allowed to participate.
US Pressure For Elections
Rodriguez met US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, where the two discussed Venezuela’s political and economic future.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington had made clear that Venezuela’s transition should ultimately culminate in a free and fair election.
Trump and Rodriguez also discussed restructuring Venezuela’s substantial sovereign debt, as Washington continues efforts to reshape the country’s economy and political system.
Rodriguez called for international support as Venezuela moves from what she described as a period of “uncertainty and conflict” towards “full democracy”.
She also warned that rebuilding the Venezuelan economy would take time.
“This is the time to build the nation that many people want to return to,” she said.
