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Signature drive for president recall vote in Venezuela plagued by irregularities, says official

Xinhua, May 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

A signature drive in Venezuela to call a referendum to recall President Nicolas Maduro was riddled with irregularities, a ruling party official said on Sunday.

The signatures collected included names of dead people, United Socialist Party (PSUV) leader Jorge Rodriguez said during an interview with private-owned TV channel Televen.

Rodriguez was designated by the government to audit the signatures submitted in early May to the National Electoral Council (CNE) by the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), a coalition of mainly right-wing groups.

He said that among the 1.857 million names collected "we have found 36 dead people signing," adding it would be "impossible" to organize a recall referendum poll within this year.

In Venezuela, signatures from 1 percent of the electorate are needed to request a referendum.

The opposition has been awaiting the electoral body's decision on the signatures collected. If the latter accepted them as valid, the opposition would have to collect signatures from 20 percent of the registered voters, or nearly 4 million names, needed to set a date for the referendum vote. Endi