Venezuelan voters choose opposition candidate to face President Nicolás Maduro

María Corina Machado won Venezuela’s opposition candidate primary on Sunday. This was the first opposition primary to select a presidential candidate in 11 years. Primary organizers say more than 90 percent of the nearly 2.5 million voters supported her. The Venezuelan government argues it’s impossible that so many votes were cast within the time frame of the primary and is opening a criminal investigation into the primary and its organizers.

Why is Machado barred from running? Machado has openly criticized current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. State Department describes as authoritarian. Machado supports the free market and opposes socialism. The government barred her from running in June because of alleged fraud and tax violations. The United States has recently relaxed oil sanctions for Venezuela, as long as the country runs a legal and open presidential election—allowing all candidates, including Machado, to run.

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s report in WORLD Magazine about Venezuela’s political crisis.