Venezuela opposition-backed Congress approves new referendum rules

https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-opposition-backed-congress-approves-referendum-rules-232121484.html

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition-dominated parliament on Wednesday approved a law to speed up the process of requesting recall referendums, as adversaries of President Nicolas Maduro seek to push him from office amid a deepening economic crisis.

The country's constitution allows elected officials to be recalled via referendum once they have served half of their term in office. Maduro was elected in 2013 to six years in office.

The law is a challenge to the country's elections council, which earlier this month said it, rather than the assembly, should be in charge of regulating referendums.

The measure also risks being struck down by the supreme court, which has repeatedly sided with Maduro in disputes between the executive branch and the Congress since the opposition won a two-thirds legislative majority last year