[An Nahar] Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's allies asked the Supreme Court on Monday to block a bid to call a referendum on sacking him, accusing the opposition of "fraud."The move casts doubt on the recall vote sought by the opposition, which accuses the high court of pro-Maduro bias and has clashed with it repeatedly since winning control of congress in December.
Maduro's opponents warn Venezuela risks exploding into unrest without a vote on sacking the leftist leader, whom they blame for an economic crisis marked by severe shortages of food, medicine and electricity.
The opposition is racing to call a referendum by the end of the year, and has submitted a petition with 1.8 million signatures to start the lengthy process.
But Jorge Rodriguez, the head of a panel appointed by Maduro to oversee the recall push, said he had filed a complaint asking the Supreme Court to "protect Venezuelans' constitutional rights" by intervening.
Electoral authorities have accepted 1.3 million signatures submitted by the opposition as valid -- well above the threshold of 200,000.
Last week, they said they would proceed to the next stage: verifying those 1.3 million signatories' identity with fingerprint scans from June 20 to 24.
Speaking to journalists outside the Supreme Court, Rodriguez said it would be "perpetrating a brutal fraud to authorize (the opposition) to proceed to the next stage."