By JP Carroll
The Venezuelan conservative opposition is done dealing with the Socialist government of Nicolas Maduro, so they have collected 1.85 million signatures to prompt a recall election.
Gathering signatures to legally justify a recall election is only the latest attempt in a months-long power struggle between the conservative opposition and the ruling Socialist government. A coalition of conservative legislators won elections to take control of the country’s National Assembly, the equivalent of Congress, in December.
Since the elections, power has been split and politics close to paralyzed as the Socialist executive branch has thwarted the multiple legal attempts by the National Assembly to assert its authority.
The dysfunctional political climate in Venezuela has only exacerbated and been exacerbated by a failing economy. After 17 years of Socialist economic policies, runaway spending along with low oil prices have left the Venezuelan economy on the brink of complete collapse.
At the moment, Maduro’s presidential term is up in 2019. With the signatures that have been collected for an official petition by the opposition, Maduro may be forced to call an early election before the end of 2016.
Referendums are legal once enough signatures have been collected, verified and a president has reached the halfway point of their term. Maduro came to power in 2013.
Previously in April, the opposition proposed a constitutional amendment to shorten the president’s term. The Supreme Court of Venezuela which is stacked with Socialist-appointed justices determined that while the amendment is constitutional, it is not retroactive.
In January after being officially sworn in, Henry Ramos Allup, the President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, the equivalent of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, vowed to legally oust Maduro.