News / Venezuela

Venezuela opposition says closer to Maduro recall

Wednesday, 20 July 2016 4:21 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 20 July 2016 5:24 AM ]

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ©AFP

Opposition leaders in Venezuela say they are closer to holding a referendum to recall President Nicolas Maduro later this year.

Several senior members of the Democratic Unity coalition said on Tuesday that another hurdle had been cleared in their campaign for a recall vote to cut Maduro's term in office.

They posted documents from the country’s election council showing that they had validated some 400,000 signatures demanding the referendum.

The number of the validated signatures, which is twice the total needed, could now trigger the next step in the process which is to collect about four million signatures requesting a vote to recall Maduro.

"What is going to be the cost if this country does not obtain a peaceful, electoral solution to the crisis?" said Henrique Capriles, an opposition leader, earlier on Tuesday, adding, "A social explosion would be worse. No one wants that, but the people's patience has a limit."

President Maduro has repeatedly said that there will be no referendum in the country this year. Government officials have said there were irregularities during the gathering of signatures by the opposition.

The government has said there is not enough time to hold the vote this year as the opposition began the process late. Capriles, however, said that it would be possible to hold the referendum on October 30 or November 6.

The timing of the referendum is important particularly for Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), because if Maduro loses the referendum in 2016, a new presidential election would be called, which polls indicate that he will likely lose.

But if Maduro loses the referendum next year, he would be replaced by his vice president and therefore the Socialist Party would be in power until next the scheduled presidential election in 2018.

Since 2014, Venezuela has been grappling with protests against Maduro, with the opposition vigorously pushing to have him unseated.

The Maduro government has denounced the opposition’s plans as a US-backed attempt to stage a coup d’état in the country.

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