Venezuela’s Supreme Court has raised another obstacle to an opposition drive for a referendum on recalling leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who is blamed for a deepening economic and political crisis.
Proponents of a recall already faced a high hurdle: they must collect signatures from 20% of the electorate — or about 4mn voters — over a three-day period from October 26 to 28.
The Supreme Court has now raised the bar even higher by making it 20% of the electorate in each of the country’s 24 states in order to force a recall vote.
“The failure to collect that percentage in any of the states or the capital district would nullify the validity of a presidential recall referendum,” the court said.
Maduro’s popularity has plummeted as his oil-rich country has spiralled into chaos, with the economy now in its third year of a deep recession, exacerbated by the plunge in world oil prices.
Inflation is expected to top 700% this year, and ordinary Venezuelans are struggling with widespread shortages of food and medicine.
The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) has pushed for a recall vote as a constitutionally accepted way out of the crisis.
But Maduro keeps a tight hold on key levers of power, including the courts, which have backed him in moves aimed at neutralising the opposition-controlled National Assembly and heading off a recall.
The opposition, meanwhile, is counting on an overwhelming turnout during the three-day signature drive to pressure the government to give way.
“It will be a moral recall,” said Jesus Torrealba, MUD’s executive secretary. The opposition is pressing for a recall vote before January 10, even though the country’s electoral authorities say there is not time to organise one this year.