Opponents of President Hugo Chavez celebrated a major victory in their presidential recall campaign after the Supreme Court ruled that signatures on petitions seeking a vote were valid unless citizens disclaim them
Hundreds took the streets in Venezuela's capital on Monday evening after the court ordered the National Elections Council to reverse its decision rejecting hundreds of thousands of signatures and requiring more than 1 million others to come forward to confirm they signed.
Chavez's government immediately appealed Monday's court decision, said Freddy Bernal, a key member of the president's ruling party. Party leaders urged government supporters to gather outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday to demand that the constitutional chamber overturn the decision.
Opposition leaders, who accuse Chavez of becoming increasingly autocratic, needed 2.4 million signatures to force a recall vote.
They submitted more than 3 million signatures to the council in December following a petition drive.
The elections council decided two weeks ago that only 1.8 million of the signatures were valid, rejecting almost 400,000 outright and ordering 1.1 million citizens to confirm that they signed -- more than 870,000 of them because they allegedly violated procedural rules when completing petition forms.
The Supreme Court ruled that the 870,000 signatures should be deemed valid unless citizens come forward to disclaim them.
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