Venezuela's interim government and opposition figures have announced they will begin formal talks on 1 August aimed at overhauling the country's electoral system and restoring democratic institutions, more than six months after the ousting of longtime leader Nicolás Maduro. The joint working group, announced simultaneously by National Assembly president Jorge Rodríguez and a group of opposition politicians, will prioritise what both sides describe as "strengthening the democratic institutions and the electoral system" and restoring guarantees for political participation.

The talks come at a turbulent moment for Venezuela, which was struck by twin earthquakes on 24 June that killed at least 4,700 people — a disaster that Jorge Rodríguez cited as part of the rationale for dialogue, saying that "only through unity can we move forward with reconstruction and maintain peace." Maduro, whose government had dominated all branches of Venezuela's institutions for years and was widely accused of stealing the 2024 presidential election, was seized by US forces in January and taken to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. Since then, former Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez — Jorge's sister — has governed as interim president with the backing of Washington.

The opposition delegation will be led by Dinorah Figuera, who returned to Caracas in June after nearly eight years in exile in Spain. Figuera, who heads a commission representing the 2015 National Assembly — the last legislative body with an opposition majority and the only one elected under Chavismo, the leftist political movement founded by former president Hugo Chávez, to be controlled by the opposition — said she had travelled back "on invitation from the US State Department." That assembly, whose former members will form the basis of the working group, was recognised by Washington as Venezuela's legitimate legislature even after it was stripped of political power under Maduro. The US State Department praised the start of talks as a "roadmap for a political dialogue on a democratic transition."

Notably absent from the negotiations is María Corina Machado, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate widely regarded as Venezuela's most prominent opposition figure, who has been unable to return to the country after leaving secretly in November to receive her prize in Oslo. Although Machado presented her Nobel award to President Donald Trump and has repeatedly expressed her intention to return, the Trump administration appears to have sidelined her in favour of Figuera. US officials were quoted describing Machado's attempts to re-enter the country as "potentially disruptive." Analysts say her insistence on returning has placed her increasingly at the margins of the transition process. Machado called on the opposition coalition she leads to meet to define a common position on the announced talks.

Despite the diplomatic momentum, significant uncertainties remain. No timetable for new elections has been set, and even within the opposition the expectation is that rebuilding a credible electoral system — including reforming the National Electoral Council, which declared Maduro the winner of the disputed 2024 vote — could take at least eight months. More than 370 political prisoners remain behind bars, according to the prisoners' rights group Foro Penal, even after scores were released following Maduro's removal. With US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly playing a central role in shaping Venezuela's political direction, the talks represent the most structured attempt yet to chart a path toward free and fair elections in a country that has been without them for years.