CARACAS, Venezuela (UPDATED) – Venezuelan authorities on Monday, September 12, postponed announcing the dates for the final stage in the opposition-led push to call a referendum on removing embattled President Nicolas Maduro from power.
According to the opposition, the National Electoral Council (CNE) pushed back from Tuesday, September 13 to Friday, September 16 a much-anticipated announcement on when the leftist president’s opponents will be allowed to begin collecting the four million signatures needed to trigger a recall vote.
The opposition coalition behind the recall campaign, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), must collect the signatures – 20% of the electorate – in just 3 days.
It is the last step in a bureaucratic obstacle course to force a referendum, which MUD is racing to do by the end of the year.
Maduro’s opponents blame him for an economic meltdown marked by food shortages, riots and looting.
The CNE has said it is looking at late October for the petition process. The opposition says that is too late and accuses the authorities of stalling.
MUD is racing to force a vote by January 10 – the deadline to trigger new elections if Maduro loses.
After that date, a “yes” vote would simply transfer power to his hand-picked vice president for the rest of his term, until 2019.
Seeking leverage, the opposition has organized a series of protests.
It estimates a million people took to the streets in the largest one, on September 1.
Opposition leaders announced they would hold a new protest on the day of the CNE announcement, pushing back a protest previously scheduled for Wednesday in order to keep up the pressure.
Political analysts warn the country risks unrest if a recall vote is not held by the end of the year.
Eighty percent of Venezuelans want a change of government, according to the polling firm Datanalisis.
Oil-rich Venezuela is facing its third year of deep recession this year, hit hard by the plunge in global crude prices since mid-2014.
The crisis is threatening Maduro and 17 years of leftist rule launched by the late Hugo Chavez in 1999. – Rappler.com
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