Venezuela awaits key ruling on Maduro recall

Agence France-Presse

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Venezuela awaits key ruling on Maduro recall

AFP

The National Electoral Council (CNE) is due to announce whether it has validated the 200,000 voter signatures needed to activate the next step in the process of removing the unpopular leftist leader

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela’s opposition learns Tuesday, July 26, whether it can proceed with efforts to force a recall vote against President Nicolas Maduro, amid a dire economic crisis that is fueling warnings of unrest.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) is due to announce whether it has validated the 200,000 voter signatures needed to activate the next step in the process of removing the unpopular leftist leader.

The opposition decries the CNE as beholden to Maduro, but is hoping pressure from Venezuelans fed up with food shortages and mounting chaos will force the authorities to let the recall process move ahead.

If the CNE gives the green light, the opposition will then have to collect another four million signatures.

To ultimately win a recall referendum, Maduro’s opponents would need more votes than he won with in 2013 – around 7.5 million.

It is a lengthy bureaucratic tightrope, and the opposition is racing to get across it by January 10, the cutoff to trigger new elections.

After that date – four years into the president’s 6-year term – a successful recall vote would simply transfer power to Maduro’s hand-picked vice president.

The opposition submitted 1.8 million signatures calling for Maduro to face a recall vote, 1.3 million of which were accepted by the CNE.

Signatories then had to show up at electoral offices last month to give their fingerprints and validate their identity, braving long lines and sweltering heat.

Opposition leaders said 326,000 signatories had been fingerprinted across the country during the 5-day process – well over the 200,000 needed.

3 frenzied days

Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, has been pushed to the brink of economic collapse by the plunge in global crude prices.

Deep in recession and facing inflation forecast to hit more than 700 percent this year, the country has gone into an economic tailspin, threatening Maduro and the socialist model launched by his late predecessor and mentor Hugo Chavez, who was in office from 1999 to 2013.

The opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), launched the referendum push after winning legislative elections in December but has found its power stymied by a Supreme Court it condemns as a Maduro lapdog.

The fractious center-right coalition has not fared much better with its referendum drive.

It accuses the government of sabotaging the process through delays, obstacles, threats and retaliation against signatories.

But opposition leaders say they are confident they have the signatures they need to move on to the final petition drive.

They have already called a rally for Wednesday in Caracas to ratchet up the pressure on the government.

To move to the next phase, they need the CNE to give them the forms for the second petition drive.

Under Venezuelan law, they will then have just three days to collect nearly four million signatures. After that, the CNE will have 15 business days to count and validate them.

Political analysts warn it won’t be easy.

“Everything depends on the CNE’s will,” said constitutional law expert Jose Ignacio Hernandez.

“If they delay everything, social conflict will increase and the only paths (open to the opposition) will be protests and international pressure,” he told Agence France-Presse.

A recent poll found 64% of Venezuelans would vote to remove Maduro.

The president, who accuses the opposition of fraud in its petition drive, argues it is logistically impossible to organize a referendum this year. – Rappler.com

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