Chavez referendum decision may be next month
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan electoral authorities said on Friday they hoped to announce in mid-February a decision on whether to call a national referendum on the government of President Hugo Chavez.
Officials of the National Electoral Council moved to calm fears among Venezuela's opposition that the timetable for a possible referendum was slipping behind schedule, which could help efforts by the left-wing president to avoid a vote.
National Electoral Council Vice President Ezequiel Zamora said the council will start verifying next week more than 3 million opposition signatures requesting a poll on Chavez. This was one week later than had been originally announced.
"We hope that 30 days after next Tuesday we will have our report for Venezuela's voters on the outcome of the signature petitions that were collected," he said.
If the council rules the opposition signatures are valid, then a poll could be held in April or May.
The United States, the biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil, and the Organization of American States back the idea of a constitutional referendum to resolve the political crisis in Venezuela. Opponents criticize Chavez, who was first elected in 1998 and re-elected in mid-2000 for a six-year term, as trying to bring Cuba-style communism to the world's No. 5 oil exporter and they have been trying to oust him for two years.
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