Post by scumbuster on Aug 10, 2016 3:05:59 GMT -5
Government Dominated Electoral Board Dashes Hope for New Presidential Elections
CARACAS -- Venezuela's electoral board (CNE) head, Tibisay Lucena, announced Tuesday that if the Opposition meets all the requirements, the collection of signatures of 20% of the electoral roll to activate the recall referendum would be held in late October -- meaning that a recall referendum could not be held before January 10th, the date necessary to trigger new elections.
If a recall referendum is held after January 10 and successful in revoking President Nicolas Maduro's mandate, the Vice President -- an official appointed anytime at the discretion of the President -- will take over to complete the remainder of the President's term which ends in 2019.
According to Lucena, who was appointed to her role by the government, between September 14 to 16, the election board will decide when and if the collection of the signatures of 20% of registered voters will take place. The 20% must be gathered in 3 days.
Lucena stressed that the process is within 15 working days continued to decide how to arrange the logistics with respect to this stage.
"We do legwork to decide which centers will work, comparing technical aspects of the machines and their distribution in the country," said Lucena. "“If every condition is met, it could take place by the end of October."
The announcement means that if the Opposition successfully collects the signatures of 20% of registered voters -- about 4 million signatures in "late October" -- the recall referendum would according to the rules take place 90 days later -- late January at the earliest.
“That time lapse for the 20% collection is an exaggeration,” said CNE Rector Luis Emilio Rondon, the one CNE Director who is sympathetic to the Opposition's problem. Rondon even boycotted Lucena's announcement to show his disapproval of the decision.
“Lucena” became the number one Twitter trending topic in Venezuela Tuesday, followed by #TibisayNoTeEquivoques (Tibisay, don’t mess up), a hashtag promoted by the opposition asking the CNE head to hold the recall in 2016.
With her announcement, Lucena seemed to be toeing the party line of “no recall in 2016”, seeking to push the actual vote into 2017, so that the Vice President finishes Maduro’s term.
Miranda state governor Henrique Capriles tweeted only minutes after Lucena announced the date, voicing his dissatisfaction and calling for a national march on September the 1st.
“The nation does not accept a ‘could’. It is our constitutional right and we will make it worth! We will mobilize all over Venezuela #1Sep”.
WHAT’S IN A DATE?
“The recall is absolutely alive, they couldn’t kill it,” tweeted Vicente Diaz, a former CNE member that is now advising the opposition in election matters.
Lawmaker Freddy Guevara, a former student leader, proved more hardcore than other opposition leaders, tweeting after Lucena’s announcement: “People: the CNE can say mass but the recall will only take place this year if we all take to the streets in a grand, civic and national struggle”.
ENOUGH TIME?
Meanwhile, Maduro's ruling party, the PSUV, asked the CNE and the Supreme Court to outlaw the main organization pushing for the recall, the MUD opposition coalition.
Both Diaz and Guevara expressed hope that even with the late October date, there is enough time to hold the vote this year -- unless the CNE stretches the lapses to the limit. That is a justified fear -- the CNE took 145 days to implement the first stage of the referendum.
With widespread shortages of food and medicine and inflation that the IMF estimates at 700% this year, in recent polling, 70% of respondents have expressed the desire to see Maduro recalled.