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CARACAS, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's National Electoral Council on Thursday suspended a new round of signature-collecting for a referendum on whether to remove President Nicolas Maduro from power.
Citing court orders, the electoral body said a signature drive scheduled for next week was suspended.
The body acted after governors in several states said local courts had annulled the results of a first such round, carried out in June, because of alleged fraud in the counting of signatures.
The move aroused anger from the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), who blasted the decision as an undemocratic move designed to dodge a vote against Maduro.
According to the original schedule, from Oct. 26 to Oct. 28, the MUD will seek to collect signatures from 20 percent of the electorate (nearly four million people) in order to trigger a referendum.
Once the signatures are collected, the MUD will have five days to deliver them to the electoral council for its inspection. The electoral body will then have 15 working days between Nov. 3-23 to count and verify all the signatures.
If the number of valid signatures is above the 20 percent threshold, a referendum must happen within 90 days of being announced.
