Maduro makes official re-election run while would-be rival struggles to register candidacy

JOSHUA GOODMAN

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Throng of supporters of President Nicolas Maduro rallied Monday at a giant stage outside the downtown electoral council headquarters where he is expected to make official his candidacy for a third term. Meanwhile, his would-be rival Corina Yonis struggled against a ticking deadline to register her candidacy _ and found she was unable to _  in what the opposition denounced as the latest attack on Venezuela’s democracy. Polls show that Venezuelans would trounce the unpopular Maduro. But the self-proclaimed socialist leader has blocked his chief opponents from running. Yoris was nominated last week to head the tickets of two smaller parties previously authorized to participate in July’s presidential election in an attempt to dare him into blocking a complete unknown from running against him.