Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro at a military parade for the transition of National Guard command in Caracas, January 16, 2018. Thomson Reuters CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looked sure to stand for re-election in a presidential vote due by the end of April where the ruling Socialists hope to trump a squabbling opposition despite an economic crisis and foreign sanctions.

The unpopular leader, whom foes decry as a dictator who has wrecked the OPEC member's economy, said he would run if the ruling Socialist Party asked him, even as Venezuelans reel from empty shelves and the world's fastest inflation.

"I'm ready to be a candidate," he told reporters during a rally of cheering red-shirted supporters broadcast on state TV.

The 55-year-old former bus driver and union leader, who succeeded Hugo Chavez in 2013, benefits from a formidable political machinery, a compliant national election board, and a hard core of support from poor Venezuelans reliant on state food handouts.

Critics from opposition politicians to Western powers doubt authorities will allow a free and fair vote, given the barring of some opposition figures from running plus abuse of state resources in campaigning.

Some fear outright fraud.

"These are not elections. It's a military occupation with a fraudulent election board," said hardline opposition activist Maria Corina Machado, referring to the armed forces' major role in government and the board's past pro-Maduro stance.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and Nestor Reverol, general commander of the Venezuelan National Guard, at Maduro's annual report of the state of the nation, at the National Assembly in Caracas, January 15, 2016. Reuters

Announcing the presidential poll would be held by the end of April, the pro-government Constituent Assembly superbody legislature said another election in Venezuela was further evidence of its democratic credentials despite a recent raft of international sanctions.

The United States, Canada, and the European Union have all taken measures against Venezuela's government over rights and corruption allegations, hurting the government's image and spooking banks from working with Caracas.

Maduro blasted the European Union for imposing "grotesque" sanctions this week on seven senior Venezuelan officials, including a travel ban and an asset freeze, and took aim at Spain's conservative prime minister.

"Mariano Rajoy, get on all fours, my friend, because the people are going to slap you," Maduro said, flanked by cabinet members and wife Cilia Flores, whom he refers to as the "First Combatant."

Should the presidential vote be perceived as fraudulent, further foreign sanctions could come, including from US President Donald Trump who has made opposition to Maduro a prominent feature of his foreign policy.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on Tuesday she did not think it would be a good idea for Maduro to run for re-election. "Certainly the people would have to decide," Nauert said.

The Lima Group, a regional group of Latin American countries, said an election held under the present conditions would lack legitimacy. The group also called on Venezuela to release political prisoners.

Who will take on Maduro?

A demonstrator is detained at a rally during a strike called to protest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, July 27, 2017. Thomson Reuters

It is unclear whom the Democratic Unity opposition coalition would attempt to field. The opposition plans to hold primaries to choose a candidate, but the hasty presidential vote may make that tricky.

Its most popular leaders are almost all sidelined from politics — jailed, in exile, or barred from holding office. Months of protests last year failed to dislodge Maduro but resulted in at least 125 deaths.

"The majority of Venezuelans loathe his government and his circle. If our people are allowed to decide, they are out!" one opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, said.

Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, is prohibited from holding office over allegations of "administrative irregularities." Former mayor Leopoldo Lopez is under house arrest for leading protests against Maduro, while his young protege Freddy Guevara has taken refuge in the Chilean embassy to avoid charges of plotting against Maduro.

The announcement could also derail talks between the government and the opposition in the Dominican Republic, although chances of a breakthrough were always slim.

The opposition could succumb to in-fighting about what conditions to accept in the vote.

During the governors' election of last October, opposition candidates for the first time gave convincing evidence that elections authorities had altered results in one state, though Maduro scoffed at that and said the system was the cleanest in the world.

With cynicism toward all politicians running high among Venezuelans, many are clamoring for a nontraditional, outside candidate. The name of Lorenzo Mendoza, billionaire head of private food company Polar, is on many people's lips, but he has given no indication of wanting to stand.

"The majority want an outsider," said Dimitris Pantoulas, a Caracas-based political consultant.

(Reporting by Vivian Sequera and Alexandra Ulmer; additional reporting by Andreina Aponte, Corina Pons, Brian Ellsworth and Arshad Mohammed in Washington and Felipe Iturrieta in Santiago; writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Matthew Lewis and Grant McCool)</s>(RTTNews) - Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly, controlled by representatives from the ruling administration, agreed on Tuesday to call presidential elections in the first four months of 2018.

The bill was raised by the representative Diosdado Cabello, number two in the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Traditionally, Venezuela celebrates presidential elections in December.

The call has been one of the constant requests of the opposition to solve the political and social crisis in which the country is engulfed. The National Electoral Council must set the date of the elections, in which the president NicolÃ¡s Maduro could seek re-election after completing six years of office.

In the last presidential elections, held in April 2013, months after Hugo ChÃ¡vez died, Maduro defeated the opposition leader Henrique Capriles.</s>Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro says he is ready to stand for re-election following a move by the government-allied Constituent Assembly to call for an early presidential election.

The National Constituent Assembly announced on Tuesday that a presidential election would be held by the end of April, describing the move as evidence of the country’s democratic credentials.

Maduro, who has been in office since 2013, said later in the day that he would run if he received the ruling Socialist Party’s nomination.

“I am a humble worker, a humble man of the people,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “If the United Socialist Party of Venezuela... believes that I should be the presidential candidate... I’m at your service.”

Top party official Diosdado Cabello confirmed to the Assembly that Maduro would be the party’s sole candidate.

“We are not going to have a problem,” Cabello said. “We have only one candidate to continue with the revolution.”

The assembly has now called on the National Electoral Council to finalize the date of the election. The poll, which had been initially scheduled to be held by the end of the year, was brought forward to demonstrate the administration’s commitment to democracy, according to government officials.

The Venezuelan opposition, which has constantly called for a new presidential election amid a political crisis in the country, now accuses Maduro of “merely dressing up authoritarianism in the guise of democracy.”

“A government that is a product of force or an electoral trap cannot survive at an international level,” Henry Ramos Allup, a prominent opposition leader and member of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, wrote on Twitter.

The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition has two primary contenders, Henrique Capriles Radonski and Henry Ramos Allup.

Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, who lost to Maduro in the 2013 election, is banned from running for office, however.</s>Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has said he is "ready to be a candidate" after the country's constituent assembly unanimously voted to hold a presidential election by the end of April.

The move on Tuesday came amid growing speculation that elections would be held in the first part of 2018, as the ruling Socialists hope to gain advantage of a deep political crisis hampering the divided opposition.

Last year, Maduro faced months of protests for presiding over a debilitating economic crisis that has seen a high inflation rate and shortages of food and other basic amenities. The rallies, however, failed to unseat him.

"The electoral process should be called in the first four months of the year 2018," Diosdado Cabello, the Socialist Party's number two, told the pro-government legislative superbody which ordered the election.

"We won't have a problem, we only have one candidate to continue the revolution," Venezuelan media quoted him as saying.

"If the world wants to apply sanctions, we will apply elections," added Cabello, referring to the economic measuers on himself and six other senior Venezuelan officials which were introduced by the European Union on Monday.

After the vote at the assembly, Maduro told reporters that he would stand for re-election if the Socialist Party asked him to.

Venezuela's constitution dictates that a new six-year presidential term must begin in January 2019.

It is unclear who from the fragmented opposition will stand against Maduro. Its most popular leaders are almost all sidelined from politics - jailed, in exile or barred from holding office.

Maduro announced on December 10, 2017 that the country's main opposition parties would be banned from taking part in the elections. His statement came as his party scored a landslide victory in municipal elections on the same day, winning at least 90 percent of the 335 mayoral seats.

The local elections were boycotted by several opposition leaders. Maduro said that those who had participated in the boycott were no longer part of the political landscape and would not be able to contend in future voting.

Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman, reporting from Santiago, Chile's capital, said the move by the constituent assembly was "a very serious development".

She added that this had "a lot of people very worried", including members of the opposition who have been calling for "fair, transparent and internationally supervised elections which they believe could not take place before the end of the year".

Paraguay's Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga told Al Jazeera that the Latin American community would not recognise any elections that come from a decision made by the constituent assembly.

"We do not recognise the national constituency assembly. We don't recognise any decision that they are taking," Loizaga said.</s>Venezuela's constitutional assembly has ordered presidential elections by April 30 as the ruling socialist party seeks to consolidate its grip on power amid a worsening economic crisis.

President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that he is ready to seek re-election after his allies pushed forward voting in a move widely seen as a bid to capitalise on disarray in the Venezuelan opposition.

The election has been ordered to take place months ahead of when the country's presidential voting has traditionally taken place.

Mr Maduro said the ruling socialist party would settle on a single consensus candidate at a convention on February 4.

If selected, he said, he would relish the opportunity to measure up against his opponents. He called on the National Electoral Council to set as near a date as possible for the presidential election.

"They should find the closest date, to get this out of the way so we can begin to make a great revolution," a jubilant Maduro told hundreds of redshirted supporters at a rally to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of Venezuela's last military dictatorship. "If it was in my hands, the election would be this weekend," he added.

While Venezuelans had been expecting an early election, the announcement came as somewhat of a surprise because talks between the opposition and government have been taking place in the Dominican Republic for weeks - so far without a breakthrough.

The opposition has been using those talks to push for guarantees that voting will be free and fair, with the participation of independent foreign monitors.

Foreign ministers from 14 mostly conservative Latin American governments meeting in Chile to discuss Venezuela criticised the announcement of an early election, saying in a harshly worded statement that it was "impossible" for the ballot's outcome to be credible under current conditions.

Mexico, one of several foreign governments mediating the talks in the Dominican Republic, said it was withdrawing its support for the talks to protest the government's move.

When asked about Mr Maduro running for another six-year term, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: "I don't think that's a good idea."

Mr Maduro was accompanied at the rally by Diosdado Cabello, the number two leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

It was Mr Cabello, seen as Mr Maduro's biggest internal rival, who earlier on Tuesday proposed holding the election by the end of April, saying it was the best way to counter criticism by the US and others that Venezuela is descending into dictatorship.

While he did not explicitly endorse Maduro, he praised him as the hand-picked successor of the late President Hugo Chavez and said the revolution would easily settle on a single candidate.

"We're not going to have any problem," Cabello said to thunderous applause during Tuesday's raucous session of the constitutional assembly.

This would be Venezuela's fourth election since a July vote installed the constitutional assembly, which has been condemned internationally as a naked power grab by Mr Maduro.

According to Venezuela's constitution, a new six-year presidential term must begin in January 2019. While an election can be held any time before then, voting is typically held in the final three months of the year to avoid an extended transition.

Although polls say Venezuelans overwhelmingly blame Mr Maduro for widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation that has pulverised wages, the opposition was left rudderless as several prominent politicians were barred from office or forced into exile last year following a deadly protest movement seeking the president's removal.</s>Maduro puts himself at party’s disposal for re-election to presidency

Caracas, Jan 23 (EFE).- President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday placed himself “at the disposal” of Venezuela’s PSUV party and the Great Patriotic Pole coalition as a candidate for re-election in the nationwide balloting that will be held in May.



“If the PSUV, if the forces of the GPP … if the working class, the youth believe that I should be the presidential candidate for the homeland … I’m at (their) disposal,” Maduro told the media at an event in downtown Caracas.



The Constituent National Assembly (ANC), comprised only of government supporters, on Tuesday approved a decree to hold the presidential election scheduled for this year during the first quarter.



If selected by his party as its presidential candidate, Maduro would be running for a six-year term, after being initially elected on April 14, 2013, one month after the death of former President Hugo Chavez, who tapped Maduro as his successor and called upon Chavista forces to back him at the polls.



Maduro, who is also president of the PSUV, congratulated the ANC for decreeing the election “with an eye to strengthening the democratic spirit (and) the peace of the country,” adding that calling the election for the first quarter was the “correct step.”



He also called upon the opposition to participate in the vote.

 Holding “balanced” elections under the supervision of the National Election Council (CNE) is one of the requests being made by the opposition in its negotiations with the government in the talks being hosted by the Dominican Republic.



Four of the five officials comprising the CNE are Chavistas and the council has been accused of multiple irregularities during the current government, including inflating participation data for the July 30 election, during which the ANC members were elected.



Thus, the opposition has no faith in the institution and has asked that its top officials be replaced, for qualified international observers to oversee any balloting and other measures to guarantee “clean and competitive” elections.</s>Venezuela will hold presidential elections by the end of April, the ruling Constituent Assembly said Tuesday, pulling forward a vote in which President Nicolas Maduro hopes to triumph over a divided opposition and win a second term.

The 55-year-old Maduro, a towering mustachioed former bus driver who was Hugo Chavez's handpicked successor, said he is ready to run if he receives the party's nomination.

"I am a humber worker, a humble man of the people," he told reporters before taking the stage at a rally in Caracas.

"If the United Socialist Party of Venezuela... believes that I should be the presidential candidate... I'm at your service."

It is the closest that Maduro -- who assumed power in April 2013 after Chavez died in office from cancer -- has come to declaring his candidacy outright.

He has yet to formally be nominated by his party, but it seems a foregone conclusion.

Top party official Diosdado Cabello confirmed to the Assembly that Maduro would be the party's sole candidate.

"We are not going to have a problem. We have only one candidate to continue with the revolution," he said, as delegates chanted "Nicolas, Nicolas."

Vice President Tareck El Aissami told a party rally late last year that Maduro would seek a second term.

The polls had been scheduled to be held by the end of the year, but analysts had predicted Maduro would seek an early election to seize the advantage over his opponents as they reel from a string of recent defeats.

"It's completely logical for the government to advance the election, first because it faces a very complicated year economically, and second it's trying to catch the opposition at a time of much disruption," said analyst Benigno Alarcon.

Maduro's unpopularity rating has risen to 70 percent as his oil-rich country slipped inexorably into a severe economic crisis compounded by corruption and the fall in the price of crude.

An divided opposition, drawn into a coalition called the Democratic Union Roundtable (MUD), however has been unable to capitalize.

Instead, it has slipped to a series of defeats in regional and municipal elections it has blamed on massive government fraud, but which have seen the Socialists consolidate their hold on power.

"Today, tomorrow, in the past, the only great truth is that this government and its leadership is abhorred by the vast majority of Venezuelans," former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles wrote on Twitter.

Cabello said the National Electoral Council (CNE) -- accused by the opposition of serving the government -- would set an exact date for the elections, which he said would be "before April 30."

Cabello said the decision to bring forward the elections was a response to the United States and the European Union for imposing sanctions on Venezuela, which he said had the sole objective of "seeking a change of government."

"If the world wants to apply sanctions, we will apply elections," Cabello told the Assembly, created last year to usurp the power of the opposition-dominated legislature.

"Imperial powers have unleashed a systematic and hateful campaign against Venezuela," he said.

Last week, the EU blacklisted seven senior Venezuelan officials over human rights violations, including the interior minister, the intelligence chief, the attorney general, the head of the CNE and Cabello himself.

The US also announced a series of sanctions against Venezuela as Maduro has consolidated power amid a crackdown on opponents.</s>Venezuela's constitutional assembly has ordered presidential elections by April 30 as the ruling socialist party seeks to consolidate its grip on power amid a worsening economic crisis.

The proposal was approved unanimously by delegates during a session Tuesday by the pro-government assembly.

According to Venezuela's constitution, a new six-year presidential term must begin in January 2019. While elections can be held any time before then, recent votes have been held toward the end of the year to avoid an extended transition period.

Speculation has grown in recent weeks that elections would be held in the first part of the year to take advantage of divisions among the opposition, which has been struggling to capitalize on growing discontent with Maduro.</s>Venezuela’s Marxist dictator Nicolas Maduro turned Tuesday’s ironic celebration of the end of Venezuela’s dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez 60 years ago into securing the continuation of his own. He told his supporters that if the United Socialist Party, which he controls, wants him to run for reelection, “I’m ready to be a candidate.”

He then turned the celebration into a political rally, declaring once again that the real enemy causing the country’s economic decline into barter and chaos is the president of the United States: “Donald Trump is not the boss of Venezuela!” said Maduro, adding that since they still hold elections in Venezuela (even if they are phony), “The people rule in Venezuela, not empires.” Then, adding irony on top of audacity, Maduro asserted: “I’m ready.… We’re going to win big.”

The only way he’ll “win big” in the elections to be held before the end of April is because he has either exiled or jailed nearly all his potential opposition. Henrique Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, is prohibited from running again, while former mayor Leopoldo Lopez is under house arrest for leading protests against Maduro. Freddy Guevara, one of Lopez’ young protégés, has been forced to take refuge in the Chilean embassy in Caracas for fear of being arrested by Maduro over similar charges. Antonio Ledezma, another hardline opposition leader, escaped house arrest and fled to Spain.

It’s easy for Maduro to win reelection (even if polls show the voters loathe and despise him by three-to-one) when all the opposition has been either jailed or rendered impotent.

The façade of real elections was continued with exclamations by Maduro’s number two man in his United Socialist Party, Diosdado Cabello. In defiance Cabello shouted, “If the world applies sanctions, we’ll apply elections. Nobody is going to come and give us lessons or tell us what to do.… The Venezuelan people have the right to choose their own destiny!” His utterances followed on the heels of additional sanctions levied by the European Union against seven of Maduro’s top people just a day earlier.

With Maduro’s full control of every major political lever, the “people” may have the “right” but they won’t have the power. That power rests in the hands of the country’s dictator. Maduro’s control of the Supreme Court, the National Election Commission, the fraudulent “constitutional” Assembly that replaced the legitimate National Assembly last spring, and the military, which controls the distribution of food, have relieved him of any possible threat to his regime.

Maduro's decision to push the presidential “election” forward (it used to be held during the last three months of the election year, but that was when the country’s constitution still meant something) was likely a pragmatic one as well. If he waits, things will only continue to worsen. A student of Venezuela’s implosion, Geoff Ramsey at the Washington Office on Latin America, said: “Despite the obstacles to the [non-existent] opposition right now, it’s to [Maduro’s] advantage … to encourage people to vote.” It will take their minds off other things, such as surviving in what was the world’s richest economy that Maduro and his Chavismo policies have all but destroyed.

Under socialism, called "Chavismo" in remembrance of its initial instigator, Hugo Chavez (who died in 2013, leaving Maduro as the new dictator), the result has been both predictable and catastrophic: The country is now suffering from horrific crime, poverty, and disease, plus exponential increases in child mortality, drastic declines in medical care and supplies, malnutrition, hunger, shortages of essentials, runaway inflation, a shrinking economy, and a populace reverting back to barter just to stay alive.

Tuesday’s announcement that Maduro would “be ready” if his party called him to stand for reelection in April was a brazen fraud, according to his hardline opponent Maria Corina Machado, who declared, “These are not elections; it’s a military occupation with a fraudulent election board.”

Image of Nicolas Maduro: Screenshot from a report by Telesur

An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Venezuela's Oil Production Collapsing Along With Its Economy</s>President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday he is ready to seek re-election after his allies pushed forward voting in a move widely seen as a bid to capitalize on disarray in the Venezuelan opposition and consolidate power amid a freefalling economy.

Maduro's comment came soon after the pro-government constitutional assembly ordered the presidential election be held by the end of April — months ahead of when the country's presidential voting has traditionally taken place.

He said the ruling socialist party would settle on a single consensus candidate at a convention Feb. 4. If selected, he said, he would relish the opportunity to measure up against his opponents. He called on the National Electoral Council to set as near a date as possible for the presidential election.

"They should find the closest date, to get this out of the way so we can begin to make a great revolution," a jubilant Maduro told hundreds of redshirted supporters at a rally to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of Venezuela's last military dictatorship. "If it was in my hands, the election would be this weekend."

While Venezuelans had been expecting an early election, the announcement came as somewhat of a surprise because talks between the opposition and government have been taking place in the Dominican Republic for weeks — so far without a breakthrough. The opposition has been using those talks to push for guarantees that voting will be free and fair, with the participation of independent foreign monitors.

Foreign ministers from 14 mostly conservative Latin American governments meeting in Chile to discuss Venezuela criticized the announcement of an early election, saying in a harshly worded statement that it was "impossible" for the ballot's outcome to be credible under current conditions. Mexico, one of several foreign governments mediating the talks in the Dominican Republic, said it was withdrawing its support for the talks to protest the Maduro government's move.

When asked about Maduro running for another six-year term, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, "I don't think that's a good idea."

Maduro seemed unfazed by the threat of more international rebuke. He settled on a frequent refrain to accuse his opponents of taking orders from the Trump administration, which has slapped financial and travel restrictions on dozens of top Venezuelan officials in recent months, including Maduro himself.

"Don't go running," Maduro taunted his opponents during the rally. "Don't abandon Venezuela's democracy."

Maduro was accompanied at the rally by Diosdado Cabello, the No. 2 leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. It was Cabello, seen as Maduro's biggest internal rival, who earlier Tuesday proposed holding the election by the end of April, saying it was the best way to counter criticism by the U.S. and others that Venezuela is descending into dictatorship.

"If the world applies sanctions, we'll apply elections," said Cabello, referring to Monday's decision by the European Union to impose financial and travel restrictions on him and six other top officials. "Nobody is going to come and give us lessons or tell us what to do. ... The Venezuelan people have the right to choose their own destiny."

While Cabello didn't explicitly endorse Maduro, he praised him as the hand-picked successor of the late President Hugo Chavez and said the revolution would easily settle on a single candidate.

"We're not going to have any problem," Cabello said to thunderous applause during Tuesday's raucous session of the constitutional assembly.

This would be Venezuela's fourth election since a July vote installed the constitutional assembly, which has been condemned internationally as a naked power grab by Maduro.

According to Venezuela's constitution, a new six-year presidential term must begin in January 2019. While an election can be held any time before then, voting typically is held in the final three months of the year to avoid an extended transition.

Speculation has been growing in recent weeks that the election would be held earlier to take advantage of divisions within the opposition, which has been struggling to capitalize on growing discontent with Maduro.

Although polls say Venezuelans overwhelmingly blame Maduro for widespread food shortages and triple-digit inflation that has pulverized wages, the opposition was left rudderless as several prominent politicians were barred from office or forced into exile last year following a deadly protest movement seeking the president's removal.

Compounding the opposition's woes, several parties boycotted recent elections for mayors, leaving the socialist party to sweep the contests. The opposition alleged the voting was rigged after denouncing fraud in previous races, but the partial boycott highlighted tensions over how best to confront Maduro.

Nonetheless, opposition leaders say they will field a single presidential candidate, although it remains to be seen if they can connect with voters after a string of humiliating defeats and missteps. While many voters, especially poor ones, have no enthusiasm for Maduro, they fear they could lose access to social programs and badly needed food boxes still being provided by the government.

"Today, tomorrow, the next day: the only real truth is that this government and its ruling clique are abhorred by the immense majority of Venezuelans," tweeted former opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, who lost to Maduro by a thin margin in 2013 but is barred from competing in the upcoming race over what he says are trumped-up charges of administrative improbity as a governor. "If our people are given the right to decide, they will have to leave."

Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America, said that by holding the election sooner, the ruling party is gambling that its chances would only suffer along with the economy the longer it waited.

"Despite the obstacles to the opposition right now, it's to their advantage to get behind a single candidate and encourage people to vote, even though the deck is stacked against them," he said.

Associated Press writers Scott Smith in Caracas, Alba Tobella in Bogota, Colombia, and Eva Vergara from Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report.
The National Constituent Assembly approved a decree that calls for presidential elections before April 30. Incumbent Nicolás Maduro says he will compete for re-election.