The question of a recall referendum that the opposition hopes would remove President Nicolas Maduro from office and how soon the vote will be scheduled has become the center of the political dispute in Venezuela as comments from both sides of the political spectrum become more and more heated, teleSUR correspondent Iain Bruce in Caracas reports.
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Opposition leaders have called supporters to the streets on Wednesday for the second week in a row to demand that electoral authorities speed up the process of validating signatures in the name of making the vote happen as soon as possible. Verifying the 1.85 million names on the petition, submitted May 2, is the next step to give the green light to the referendum.
“The opposition is pushing for the electoral authorities to move immediately to define the points where they can go and verify their signatures,” said Bruce, explaining that the entire process hinges on this step.
The commission overseeing the process has claimed that 190,000 names on the list are deceased people, casting doubt on the validity of the petition.
Maduro has reiterated that the opposition has the right to call for the referendum, but he has also emphasized that they have to follow the correct procedures. His opponents have accused electoral authorities of stalling the process.
But Maduro has questioned why the opposition failed to submit the request for a recall referendum sooner, arguing that it should have been done as early as January if they wanted to ensure that the vote could happen this year. He speculated that the timing was due to the fact that the opposition was hoping for a more dramatic collapse of the government than a recall referendum.
Right-wing leaders are pushing for the referendum to happen before the end of the year, which would mean that the country would be forced to hold snap elections to elect the next president if Maduro was removed from office.
Henrique Capriles reiterated calls for nationwide marches to push for a recall referendum against Pres. Maduro. pic.twitter.com/uez81FLnpI
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) May 18, 2016
The opposition is putting pressure on the National Electoral Council (CNE) to push through the process because if a recall referendum removes Maduro from office after he passes the four-year mark in his six-year term in office, Jan. 10, 2017, then Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz will take over as leader until the next scheduled election, blocking the opposition’s chance to win power until 2019.
Maduro said Tuesday that the current campaign against his government, including media coverage bent on predicting an imminent collapse as well as diplomatic pressure, is the “most serious” assault seen in the past decade.
His comments came after opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost the presidential election to Maduro in 2013, invoked violence in what many interpreted as an implicit call for military rebellion against the government.
“Prepare the tanks and warplanes,” he said, adding that the “hour of truth is coming” for the Armed Forces to decide whether they are “with the constitution or with Maduro.”
Capriles called on opposition supporters to take to the streets Wednesday to pressure authorities to expedite the recall referendum.
It’s not the first time Venezuela’s opposition has called for a vote on whether to remove a democratically-elected socialist president from power. In 2004, the country held a recall referendum on whether to remove late President Hugo Chavez from office.
The outcome went in Chavez’ favor, with 58 percent voting in favor of him completing his term.