Delcy Rodríguez rules out short-term Venezuela elections, promises renewed electoral authority

A televised address without a date

Acting president Delcy Rodríguez ruled out calling elections in the short term during a televised address to the nation on Thursday, 29 October 2026. She said elections would take place sooner or later, but argued that the country's political horizon is not measured by a date on the calendar. In her message she set out a goal of political, economic, cultural, spiritual, democratic, orderly and verifiable transformation that would bring Venezuelans to a true rebirth. She said the country had a roadmap to meet the demands of the current context. She also recalled that for a long time Venezuela had been split into trenches, with politics and the economy as battlefields.

A pledge of elections under a renewed authority

Rodríguez made her central pledge in plain terms.

“There will be elections, all those our Constitution mandates, organised by a renewed electoral authority and with the world as witness.”

She added that the vote should not become a problem or push the country back toward confrontation that nobody wants. According to her account, the process would produce an electoral power accepted by all, guaranteeing citizen participation rights and democratic guarantees. She said she had told Venezuela's security forces that no person should be detained without a court order. Outlet ABC reports that NGOs have complained about detentions without warrants over the last few years, a practice she now says must stop.

Her case for leading the transition

Rodríguez presented her own record as the basis for leading the process. She listed the posts she had held: vice-chancellor, chancellor, minister and vice president, before becoming acting president.

“I know this State and I am the right person to carry out this process.”

She took over after Nicolás Maduro, now deposed, was captured in Caracas. El Mundo describes her as a former vice president under Maduro who sought to present herself as a centrist figure between the revolution and María Corina Machado.

Opposition demands and US pressure on the timetable

The opposition, led by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González Urrutia, is demanding presidential elections in 2027. Rodríguez's address came shortly before Machado's first press conference, which had been announced. On Monday, 26 October, a senior State Department official said the Trump administration backs a roadmap to renew the Supreme Court (TSJ) and the National Electoral Council (CNE) in the coming months. Under that plan Rodríguez would declare the presidency vacant and open a six-month period for calling elections, the official said. In the week of 26 October, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the new TSJ would declare Maduro's absolute absence, forcing elections six months later. Under the constitution, presidential elections would not be required until 2030, which keeps doubts about the timetable alive.