First stage of Venezuelan campaign to recall Maduro approved
Venezuelan electoral officials say the opposition has managed to gather a sufficient number of voter signatures as the first step in its campaign to recall President Nicolas Maduro.
National Electoral Council (CNE) President, Tibisay Lucena, said Monday that the opposition had collected nearly double the requirement of 200,000 valid signatures on a petition demanding a referendum on an early end to Maduro’s term.
“The 24 states fulfilled the requirement of 1 percent of validity of ballots and the certification will be extended by the secretariat,” said the CNE head, adding, however, that the authorities have detected more than 1,000 apparently fraudulent signatures.
She also urged a judicial investigation into allegations of fraud in the petition.
The Venezuelan government has asked the country’s electoral authorities to block the opposition’s bid to hold a recall referendum, accusing officials of massive fraud.
In the next stage, the opposition faces a tougher challenge. It needs to collect four million signatures, 20 percent of Venezuela’s voters, in just three days. However, the election council did not give an exact date for the process.
Maduro’s opponents are trying to hold a referendum before January 10, four years into the president’s six-year term.
After January 10 -- the cutoff date to trigger new presidential polls – any successful recall vote would only transfer the power to Maduro’s vice president.
The government has said there is not enough time to hold the vote this year as the opposition began the process late.
Since 2014, Venezuela has been grappling with protests against Maduro who is under fire by his critics, most notably the opposition, for causing the economic recession through mismanagement.
The government of Maduro, however, has denounced the opposition’s plans as a US-backed attempt to bring about a coup d’état in the oil-rich country that is home to 29 million people.
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