Maduro, 61, registered his candidacy for a third term with great fanfare after thousands of people gathered at a rally between him and Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party.
“I was moved by such great generosity and recognition of people for this humble man from the neighborhoods of Caracas, this humble worker,” Maduro said.
The former bus driver is seeking to extend his troubled 11-year rule for another six years amid growing concerns about authoritarianism and a crackdown on the opposition.
Showing off his political muscle, he rallied thousands of supporters, many wearing red and chanting his name.
However, public opinion polls showed that he was not the favorite.
Venezuelans will go to the polls on July 28 after a grim decade in which an economic crisis has forced millions to flee the country.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado easily won the primary last year, with some polls showing her support at around 72 percent. Venezuelans.
However, courts loyal to the president banned 56-year-old MC Machado from holding public office for 15 years. She has been accused of corruption, but many see the charges as trumped up to punish her for supporting Western sanctions against the government.
MC Machado still campaigned, and on Friday nominated 80-year-old university professor Corina Yoris to replace her.
However, the main opposition coalition Democratic United Platform (PUD) announced that it was not allowed to field its candidate.
“We inform the country’s society and the world that throughout the day […] we tried to exercise our constitutional right and nominate our candidate. It was not possible,” PUD official Omar Barbosa said in a video statement released by the coalition early Tuesday, just after the midnight deadline to register candidates.
The National Electoral Council announced early on Tuesday that it had registered the PUD-affiliated party “New Times” (Un Nuevo Tiempo, UNT) nominated candidate, Manuel Rosales, governor of the state of Sulia.
