News / Venezuela

Venezuela Congress approves presidential recall bill

Thursday, 10 March 2016 7:07 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 14 March 2016 10:44 AM ]

People walk past the National Assembly building in Caracas, on December 7, 2015. (AFP photo)

Venezuela’s opposition-controlled Congress has given its initial approval to a presidential recall referendum, in a major setback for the embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

The opposition lawmakers approved the legislation on Thursday, but the bill should gain the final approval from Congress later this month.

Lawmakers said after the vote that the move could prepare the ground for a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela this year.

Members of Maduro’s ruling Socialist Party, however, slammed the legislation, saying it amounted to an attempted coup.

The opposition in Venezuela has been pursuing an array of strategies to remove Maduro from power since it managed to win the parliamentary elections last December.

The lawmakers say Maduro is to blame for the economic woes of the South American country, saying his departure from office would save Venezuela from deep recession and raging inflation.

Maduro, whose party still controls most state institutions, has denounced the opposition's plans as an attempt backed by the United States to oust his government. He blames the fall in the global oil prices for economic problems of the oil-rich Venezuela.

The government recalled its ambassador from Washington on Wednesday, with Maduro saying on state television that his nation is fed up with the “arrogance, prepotency and intrigue” of the US. The decision came after US President Barack Obama renewed a decree imposing sanctions on several top Venezuelan officials.

The opposition in Venezuela has also planned street protests beginning on Saturday in the capital Caracas while a vote on constitutional amendment is also on agenda for the parliament to shorten Maduro’s term in office which expires in 2019.

Venezuela’s economy shrank 4.5 percent in the first nine months of 2015, according to data provided by its central bank. The country also witnessed a whopping inflation rate of 141.5 percent during the same period, which was the highest recorded in the world.

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