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venezuela recall referendum

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Leaders of the Venezuelan opposition have accused the government of staging a coup by blocking their drive to hold a referendum on removing President Nicolas Maduro from office.

Henrique Capriles called for nationwide protests next week.

Election officials had suspended a petition needed to organize the referendum.

The move stopped the recall vote that polls said the government would lose.

Henrique Capriles said the coup “had been carried out against all Venezuelans”.

Henrique Capriles has told a crowd of supporters not to feel intimidated and to vote in upcoming local elections

The opposition figurehead said in the protests, called for October 26: “We will take Venezuela from end to end. The whole people will be mobilized to restore constitutional order.”

Earlier the opposition said a court order had barred eight of them from leaving the country.

Reasons for the ban were not given but the council had said fraud had been reported in the referendum process.

The Venezuelan opposition had planned to secure the required signatures for the recall vote next week.

Another of the banned leaders, opposition coalition leader Jesus Torrealba, said: “It’s gratuitous aggression. We are the majority, in the street and in Congress.

“They cannot postpone the change that the country is demanding.”

The opposition controls Venezuela’s Congress but says Nicolas Maduro has power over key institutions such as the electoral authorities and the courts.

The government has accused the opposition of inventing names on the first of two petitions required to endorse the recall vote.

Nicolas Maduro said there had been “a gigantic fraud”, adding: “Their cheating is coming out.”

Diosdado Cabello, also of Nicolas Maduro’s Socialist Party, said: “We hope justice will be served and that those responsible for this swindle will be detained.”

The decision to suspend the referendum process came despite intense international pressure on President Nicolas Maduro from the US and other Latin American countries to allow it to go ahead.

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According to Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, a referendum the opposition is trying to recall him will not take place this year.

There was no time to organize the recall referendum, said Nicolas Maduro.

On June 10 the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared more than 600,000 signatures on a petition for the referendum invalid.

Venezuela’s opposition says the electoral authorities are working alongside the government to derail the process.

Opposition leaders say their signatures on the petition have also been invalidated, revealing the electoral council’s bias.

Former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles is among those who say their signatures have been ruled out for “failing to meet the requirements”.

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Henry Ramos Allup, described the move as “shameful” and “a provocation”.

Nicolas Maduro accused the opposition of fraud and said he would ask the Supreme Court on June 13 to annul the process.

“If they meet the requirements, the recall referendum will take place next year, full stop” said Nicolas Maduro at a rally in Caracas.

“If they don’t meet the requirements, there will be no recall referendum, full stop.”

Timing is essential for both sides. If the referendum is held by January 10, 2017, and President Nicolas Maduro loses, a new election will be called.

If it is held after January 10, 2017, and the vote goes against Nicolas Maduro, his vice-president takes over and remains in power until the end of the presidential term, in January 2019.

The opposition handed over the petition on May 2.Nicolas Maduro mango

It said it had gathered the signatures of 1.85 million voters backing a recall referendum, many more than the 197,000 needed at this initial stage. The CNE said on June 10 there were 1.97 million signatures on the list.

The voters whose signatures have not been struck off by the CNE – more than 1.3 million people – will need to turn up at regional electoral offices to confirm their identities later this month.

They will have five days from June 20 to have their signatures checked, CNE President Tibisay Lucena announced on June 10.

Henrique Capriles urged voters to get ready to comply with the CNE demand and go to government offices to have their identities checked later this month.

Venezuela is in a serious economic crisis, which the opposition blames on mistaken left-wing policies of Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez.

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1.3 million Venezuelans who signed a petition for a referendum to oust President Nicolas Maduro will need to turn up at regional electoral offices to confirm their identity, the National Electoral Council (CNE) has ruled.

Voters will have five days from June 20 to have their signatures checked.

According to Venezuela’s opposition, the CNE is working in tandem with government to slow down the process.

The opposition blames the government for Venezuela’s serious economic crisis.Nicolas Maduro imposes visas for Americans

The petition was handed over to the electoral authorities on May 2.

The opposition said it had the signatures of 1.85 million voters backing a recall referendum, many more than the 197,000 needed at this initial stage. The CNE said there were 1.97 million signatures.

Nicolas Maduro’s government said there was widespread fraud in the process.

It said the names of thousands of dead voters and children were on the petition, which has been confirmed by CNE President Tibisay Lucena.

More than 600,000 signatures have been invalidated by the electoral bodies.

The other voters who signed the petition will need to have their identities checked between June 20 and 24.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles urged voters to get ready to comply with the CNE demand and go to government offices to have their identities checked later this month.

Tibisay Lucena warned that the process would be immediately suspended until order was restored if there was “any act of violence, trouble or aggression”.