Venezuela seeks to ban opposition:

The Venezuelan government asked electoral authorities Tuesday to ban the opposition coalition seeking to oust President Nicolas Maduro in a recall vote, accusing them of massive fraud.

Ratcheting up the tension in a country pushed to the brink of collapse by an economic crisis, Maduro’s camp hit back with a vengeance on the same day the opposition was hoping to get a green light to go ahead with its bid to hold a recall referendum.

“We have just asked for the cancellation of the registration of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), for being involved in the worst vote fraud in the country’s history,” said Jorge Rodriguez, Maduro’s designated aide to monitor the recall process.

He accused the opposition of including the names of thousands of dead people, convicts and minors in a petition submitted in May with 1.8 million signatures requesting a recall vote.

The opposition has denied such charges, accusing the authorities of stalling.

Tuesday was the final day for the National Electoral Council (CNE) to rule whether the opposition successfully collected at least 200,000 valid signatures, the first stage of the long and winding recall procedures.

Near the end of the day, the CNE said it would only meet Monday to examine its auditors’ report on the petition.

It did not say when it would announce its ruling. (AFP)