Venezuela’s National Election Council (CNE) says the country’s opposition will “probably” be able to continue its progress towards a mid-term recall referendum in late October.
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The timing is said to play a key role in the process as the opposition alliance is expected to have an edge over Maduro if the recall vote happens by this year. In the first phase of the process to solicit a referendum, the opposition collected around 400,000 valid signatures, exceeding the requirement to gather verified signatures from one percent of registered voters in all 24 states.
Once validated, a referendum must be held “within 90 days”, Lucena said.
Mr Maduro lambasted the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition on his weekly TV programme, saying: “The violent plans that you have will be defeated by the conscience of a majority of the people”.
The Venezuelan opposition reacted angrily when they heard they would only be allowed to collect more petition signatures in late October. After that, she said, the CNE would have up to three months to hold the referendum.
Lucena said the CNE is now completing the period of 15 straight days established by regulations to process the request to collect signatures in favor of a recall, to be followed by 15 working days to present a proposal for the chronogram and the (signature) collection centers..
If the referendum is held after January 10, Maduro’s vice president, Aristóbulo Istúriz, will assume power – leaving the United Socialist Party in charge, no matter what the recall’s result is.
A recent survey by pollster Venebarometro indicated that almost two-thirds of voters would vote against Maduro, who has branded the economic crisis and the efforts to unseat him a capitalist conspiracy. However, the right-wing opposition did not begin gathering signatures from citizens in support of the recall referendum until May.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who would have a good shot at winning a presidential election if it were scheduled this year, warned that the October timeline could push an increasingly desperate country to the breaking point.
“The elections officials know that closing the tiny window of democratic change that we still have puts the country in a very unsafe place”, Capriles said at a news conference.
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Mr Maduro has launched legal challenges against the referendum drive and has vowed there will be no recall vote this year.
