Venezuela opposition presidential candidate Yoris, 80, says her age is no handicap

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s 80-year-old aspiring opposition presidential candidate, Corina Yoris, on Monday said her age would be no handicap as she sets her sights on July’s election against incumbent President Nicolas Maduro.

Yoris was named as the opposition candidate on Friday by Maria Corina Machado, who won the opposition nominating contest by a landslide last year but has been banned from holding public office.

Unlike in the United States, where the ages of the two presidential candidates – at 81 and 77 – have dominated the campaign, little has been said in Venezuela about Yoris’ age.

But were she to triumph to July, she would be 86 by the time her term ended and likely one of the oldest world leaders.

Yoris, a respected academic, told Reuters in an interview that she was not as physically agile as she once was but that her “mind is very clear.”

“Is it just physical strength that determines the ability to carry out a task of the magnitude that we have? I think we have to emphasize the capacity found here,” she said, pointing to her head and her heart.

Monday is the deadline for Yoris to register her candidacy, but it was unclear if Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) would accept her application.

If the CNE says she cannot stand, the opposition must find a new candidate and will have until April 20 to do so.

Yoris said she was open to discussions with Maduro.

“I have to negotiate with him. I’m telling him he must comply with the constitution,” she said.

Venezuela’s ruling Socialist party authorized Maduro, a 61-year-old former bus driver, to seek a second re-election for another six-year term and he successfully registered as a candidate with the CNE on Monday.

“There will be elections with or without you,” Maduro said from the CNE building in Caracas, referring to the opposition.

At least nine other candidates have also registered, although the majority are seen as being close to the government and without significant voter support, according to opinion polls.

(Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Mayela Armas; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)