Politics
Upping the ante against Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, the country’s principal opposition party, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (M.U.D.), submitted a petition signed by 1.85 million voters to election authorities, initiating a process to hold a recall referendum against the leader. As the country grapples with issues such as shortages of food and healthcare supplies, triple-digit inflation and repeated rationing of power and water, Maduro’s government must also calm mounting anger against its policies.
The executive secretary of the opposition party Jesus Torrealba described the submission of the petition as a strictly “peaceful and constitutional” way to bring an urgent political transition in the country, writes the BBC. The opposition’s drive against Maduro garnered tremendous response with close to 10 percent of voters signing the petition (the constitutional requirement is 1 percent).
After the validation of signatures, the opposition can proceed with collecting signatures for a second petition in order to eventually hold a referendum by December, notes Reuters. There are speculations that the election board, which is biased towards the regime, is deliberately stretching the referendum to 2017 in order to allow the incumbent vice president to succeed Maduro without fresh elections, in case he is ousted. However, opponents warned that delaying tactics will intensify social unrest, which erupted in several cities last month.
