Spotlight: Potential presidential recall referendum deepens political divide in Venezuela

Since Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) announced a timeline for a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro, the political rift in the country has deepened.

CNE President Tibisay Lucena on Tuesday announced a timetable for a recall referendum against Maduro demanded by the opposition, saying the second phase of the petition would start in late October

At this phase, the opposition coalition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) would likely be allowed to begin collecting signatures from 20 percent of the country's electorate, or about 4 million voters, to initiate the referendum.

Election officials would then have 29 days to confirm the signatures and then 90 days to hold a referendum.

While this would seem to be a positive step for MUD, this would mean any referendum would happen in 2017, allowing Maduro's vice president to step in if Maduro should lose until the general election in 2018.

The opposition had been pushing for a referendum to be held in 2016 to remove Maduro as well as an early general election, as the economic situation in Venezuela worsens and new market-friendly presidents have replaced former leftists in Peru and Argentina.

On Aug. 1, CNE confirmed the end of the first phase in petitioning for the presidential recall referendum as MUD collected signatures from one percent of voters needed to start the next phase.

Diosdado Cabello, the first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, agreed with the decision, telling the press this week "that there was no possibility of the referendum happening this year."

However, opposition lawmaker Dignora Hernandez told Xinhua that "a referendum in 2016 guarantees a change in government, while in 2017, with the possible rise of a vice president, there would not be a change of government, just a change of executioner."

"We all know the games of the government ... a vice president would take over and this crisis would continue," she explained.

Hernandez noted that MUD hopes the referendum could happen in 2016 but "Tibisay Lucena has lied to the Venezuelan people by saying that the referendum is not possible (this year)."

"She has stated the CNE is rapid, technical and efficient...so if they want to do something, they can," Hernandez said.

A recent poll by private firm Alfredo Keller y Asociados revealed that should a poll be held now, Maduro would lose by a margin of over 58 percent.

The Organization of American States issued a statement on Thursday, called on Venezuela to act "without delay" for a referendum over whether to recall Maduro from office as a way out of a worsening crisis in the country.

Opposition parties in Venezuela reportedly have planned a march in Caracas on Sept. 1 to demand that CNE permit the recall referendum this year.

Maduro said that his government was the victim of a U.S.-led economic

war" against Venezuela. He also accused his political enemies of fomenting public disorder and unrest. Endi