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Maduro calls for peace, dialogue after halt of recall referendum

Xinhua, October 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday called on citizens to preserve peace and called for dialogue, after the National Electoral Council (CNE) suspended the process to hold a recall referendum against him.

"I want to make a call for calm, dialogue, peace, justice and respect for the laws," said Maduro, who is currently on a state visit to Azerbaijan, in a telephone interview with the state-owned Venezolana de Television.

Maduro also sent a message to the opposition, which was outraged by the CNE decision. He told them to maintain their "sanity," alluding to violent acts perpetrated by his government's opponents in the past.

"Let them not return to the time of madness...I call for sanity, balance and dialogue, for dialogue in the country," he added.

The opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) was set to launch a three-day operation on Oct. 26-28 to gather signatures from 20 percent of the electorate, a step that would trigger a recall referendum against Maduro.

However, on Thursday, the courts in five separate states -- Aragua, Carabobo, Monagas, Apure and Bolivar -- said that irregularities had been found at a previous stage of the referendum process.

In May, the MUD collected signatures from over 1 percent of the electorate, one of the early steps needed for a referendum.

The five states said that a number of cases of identity theft had been found among the signatures submitted, leading the CNE to suspend the process.

In a press conference on Friday, MUD leader Jesus Torrealba responded by saying the government was trying to incite violence.

"We cannot fall into a violent response because that's what they want. But we cannot docilely accept what is happening, either," he vowed. Endi