VENEZUELA: ELECTION AUTHORITIES SET DATE FOR REFERENDUM ON WHETHER PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ SHOULD RESIGN

Record ID: 645595

  • Title: VENEZUELA: ELECTION AUTHORITIES SET DATE FOR REFERENDUM ON WHETHER PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ SHOULD RESIGN
  • Date: 28th November 2002
  • Summary: (U1) CARACAS, VENEZUELA (NOVEMBER 28, 2002) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORTERS OUTSIDE THE NATIONAL ELECTORAL COUNCIL (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 13th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA97POIAES04Y98QYKMKJYHGRL0
  • Story Text: Venezuelan election authorities have set a date for a referendum on whether President Hugo Chavez should resign, prompting the government to immediately reject the decision.
    Venezuela's electoral authorities on Thursday (November 28) set February 2, 2003 as the date for a nonbinding referendum on whether leftist President Hugo Chavez should resign, but Chavez's government flatly rejected the decision as unconstitutional.
    The National Electoral Council decision early on Thursday started a heated legal and political dispute between the president and his foes in the world's number five oil exporter.
    Opponents of the populist leader have also called a general strike next Monday to press Chavez to accept the referendum.
    Electoral council president Alfredo Avella said the institution that oversees elections had agreed to stage a referendum formally requested by the opposition on the question of whether Chavez should resign immediately from office.
    But the government quickly challenged the council's decision, saying it had violated the constitution by calling a poll without the required number of members' votes. It accused the council of acting illegally and out of political motives.
    "Everything that signifies an attempt to violate the legal norms, or confront or disregard a decision by the Supreme Court can be interpreted as a coup attempt," Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel told reporters. He indicated the government would appeal to the Supreme Court.
    The setting of a referendum date, coupled with the strike call, piled up pressure on former paratrooper Chavez, who was elected in 1998 and survived a brief military coup in April.
    Drawing fierce criticism from foes, Chavez has refused to quit or accept the early vote, arguing that Venezuela's 1999 constitution only allows for a binding referendum on his rule next August, halfway through his current mandate.
    He has insisted he will not step down even if he overwhelmingly loses any early referendum held before August.
    The February 2 consultative vote could not legally force Chavez to resign. But his foes believe a decisive rejection would deal him a major political defeat.
    Government and opposition are currently engaged in peace talks, brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria, aimed a hammering out an agreement on elections to solve their long-running political conflict.
    The poll has become the latest focus of the fierce feud between Chavez and his foes, which has kept the oil-rich South American nation in a state of political turmoil for months.
    Opponents of the Venezuelan leader, who himself attempted a botched 1992 coup six years before winning elections, accuse him of dictatorial rule and blame his left-wing reforms in support of the poor for ruining the nation's economy.
    He says his adversaries are fighting to retain economic and political privileges and are trying to overthrow him by force.
    Opposition leaders earlier this month handed in more than 2 million signatures demanding the immediate referendum.
    They have said they will press ahead with the December 2 general strike to try to force the president to accept the poll. They are also demanding the government reverse a recent military takeover of the Caracas city police from the capital's anti-Chavez mayor. Hundreds of troops, backed by armored vehicles, were deployed to enforce the police takeover.
    Chavez and his ministers have condemned the opposition strike as "insurrectional" and have said the government will take every possible measure to offset its effects, especially in the strategic oil sector, the mainstay of the economy.
    This has raised fears of renewed tension and possible clashes between followers and foes of the president. At least two people were killed and dozens injured this month in street protests involving militants from both sides and police.
    The level of support for Monday's planned walkout remains unclear. Anti-Chavez executives in the vital state oil industry have left the decision to participate up to individual workers, while blue-collar oil industry workers appear split.
    Fours years after his landslide election victory, the president's popularity has plummeted as the nation's economic troubles mount. But Chavez says he retains strong support, especially among the nation's poor majority.
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