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Capriles, an upper-middle class lawyer, used his charisma and
non-combative style to win the support of millions and become an
electoral threat to the since deceased President Hugo Chávez in
2012.
Capriles would lose that election, and another the following
year after Chávez’s death, to current President Nicolás Maduro.
It was during that second bid in 2013 that the court on Monday
said the government violated Capriles’ rights and favored Maduro.
State resources were used to bolster Maduro’s candidacy, the
court said. Even so, the result was exceedingly close.
The court ruled that Venezuela’s government undermined the
integrity of the election and affected the right of Venezuelans
to freely elect their leader.
In 2017, Maduro’s administration barred Capriles from running
again for 15 years.
Capriles already had a ruling from the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights in his favor. The court had ordered the Venezuelan
government to lift the ban on his political participation, but
it was ignored.
In January, the Supreme Justice Tribunal ratified Capriles' ban
until 2032.
In July, Maduro was declared the winner of an election full of
irregularities for which tally sheets from poll places gathered
by the opposition showed their candidate, Edmundo González, had
defeated Maduro by a wide margin.
But Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked
with Maduro loyalists, declared him the election winner hours
after polls closed.
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