Venezuelans got a chance on to demand a recall of President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday – but a government-friendly electoral board imposed limits that backers said were impossible to meet. That added to complaints about a system sharply tilted in favour of the governing socialist party.
“The recall referendum is absolutely blocked,” Luis Lander, director of the independent Venezuelan Electoral Observatory, said this week. “The conditions make it absolutely and totally impossible.” Nicmer Evans, a member of Venezuelan Movement for Recall that filed a request for the recall, complained on Twitter that the conditions were imposed without consultation and were unconstitutional.“I knew about the process, but I didn’t know it was today,” said Gemini Pino, a 55-year-old physician who was passing near a signature centre. “If I see where the places are, I will sign. But I have participated in so many that I don’t know if anything will be achieved today.
The effort comes on the heels of regional elections across the country that saw the government win a heavy majority of local races – but lose a highly symbolic gubernatorial vote in Barinas state, the homeland of the late former President Hugo Chavez, who founded the ruling socialist movement.
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