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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Venezuela paves way for petition to recall Maduro |
| 2016-04-27 |
| [WASHINGTONPOST] Venezuela’s electoral council on Tuesday took steps to allow opponents of President Nicolas Maduro to try and initiate a recall referendum against the socialist leader. The electoral authority delivered to opposition representatives the petition sheets needed to collect around 200,000 signatures to schedule a formal petition drive. The decision would normally draw scant attention except that the process had been mired by administrative hurdles that the opposition sees as an attempt by the government-stacked institution to protect Maduro. Reflecting some of those tensions, a small group of government supporters hurled insults and threats against opposition leaders arriving to the downtown headquarters of the electoral council Tuesday, forcing them to briefly seek cover in the offices of the opposition-controlled congress across the street. Although Maduro’s approval rating has plummeted amid spiraling triple-digit inflation, a deep recession and widespread shortages, booting him from office won’t be easy. Just scheduling a referendum requires yet another petition drive, in which the opposition must gather signatures from 20 percent of the electorate, or around 4 million voters. And if the vote were ever held, the president would be removed only if the number of anti-Maduro votes exceeded the 7.6 million votes he received in the 2013 election. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Self-selected list of enemies, saves on Maduro's ovehead. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2016-04-27 08:40 |
| #1 "I can't see the damn petition with the power off!" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2016-04-27 07:31 |