Amid rising rancor between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his foes, a three-day campaign was completed Sunday to collect enough signatures to force a referendum to end the leftist leader's tumultuous presidency.
The recall effort is considered the opposition's last-ditch chance to remove Chavez from office before the 2006 presidential election.
Although the opposition thought it already had the necessary 2.4 million signatures needed for the referendum, election authorities ruled in March that hundreds of thousands of signatures were flawed. After negotiations with foreign mediators and opposition leaders, election authorities convened a "repair period," during which 1.2 million people who signed in December could confirm their signatures.
PHOTO: EPA
It was unclear how many signatures were repaired between Friday and Sunday evening, but the opposition needed 530,000 to reach the 2.4 million threshold. If that requirement is met, a referendum could be held Aug. 8, followed by an election to choose a new president.
"We want a referendum as soon as possible," said Fernando Rubio, 46, an accountant, moments after visiting one of Venezuela's 2,600 polling sites.
"The loss of jobs and the unemployment are hurting the quality of life. We have to get him out of here," Rubio said.
Chavez pledged to accept a referendum, if it were sanctioned by election authorities, after meeting Sunday afternoon with former US president Jimmy Carter, whose Atlanta-based Carter Center has mediated here.
"If we go to a referendum, let's do it," Chavez, surrounded by aides and bodyguards, said in front of the presidential palace.
Smiling before a throng of reporters, he added: "If they win, I'll leave. I'll leave."
But the opposition believes that the electoral council, which is considered partial to the government, will hold up the validation process. If so, the president's adversaries may run out of time to stage a recall to cut short Chavez's five-and-a-half-year-old government.
supreme court
According to Venezuelan law, a referendum held after Aug. 19 would only remove the president -- there would be no election. Instead, Chavez's vice president, Jose Vicente Rangel, would take over, effectively giving Chavez the chance to rule from behind the scenes and then run again in 2006.
For the opposition, failing in this latest attempt to oust Chavez would be seen as disastrous for Venezuela's brittle democracy.
Chavez, first elected in 1998 and then re-elected in 2000 for a six-year term, has consolidated his hold over key institutions like the attorney general's office, the controller's office and the government's human rights ombudsman. More importantly, Chavez and his supporters are now on the verge of taking a tighter rein on the 20-member Supreme Court, which may rule on the validity of the signature gathering.
Under a new law, the National Assembly can add 12 justices and needs only a simple majority to do so, whereas in the past it needed a two-thirds vote. Chavez loyalists are a majority in the Assembly, a situation that will enable Chavez to more easily appoint and dismiss justices.
The government also announced recently that it would start training civilians to gather information on anti-government activities, a plan similar to neighborhood block groups in Cuba, Venezuela's closest ally.
corruption, nepotism
"We've seen an acceleration of the plan to dismantle what remains of the democratic state in Venezuela and substitute democratic institutions with neo-authoritarian institutions," said Jesus Torrealba, an opposition leader in the Democratic Coordinator, an umbrella of opposition groups.
The Chavez government, though, considers itself the most democratic Venezuela has had, replacing governments steeped in corruption and nepotism. It views the opposition as unqualified to harp on democratic ideals, since many of its leaders were at the forefront of a coup that briefly toppled Chavez in 2002.
The government has charged that the opposition continues to plot Chavez's overthrow, going so far as to hire a Colombian militia as part of a violent plan to remove him. Some UN diplomats privately contend that a radical wing of the opposition did intend to carry out the plot, though details remain sketchy three weeks after Venezuelan authorities arrested dozens of participants and several dissident military officers.
In an oil-rich country where poverty is widespread, Chavez has pledged to give voice to the masses.
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