Opposition must stop wasting time and organize new signature campaign ... pronto!

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Continuing his analysis of the opposition, Jorge Olavarria maintains his position that the opposition should sign the government counterproposals and get on with the job of preparing the recall referendum. His message is a clear: Stop wasting time.

Olavarria still believes signatures collected during the so-called "Firmazo" on February 2 are invalid ... "the signature papers for the recall referendum were only included at the last moment and thanks to my insistence." The Coordinadora Democratica (CD), Olavarria points out, has produced 4 leaders in one year and they all have burned out. "In any negotiated agreement one obtains what one can not what one wants ... the problem is that time is running out."

If the agreement is signed, the government will have to accept the international supervision of somebody like Organization of American States (OAS) general secretary, Cesar Gaviria ... "signing the agreement would be a personal victory for him and vindicate his position."

Olavarria proposes a new signature campaign with a heading and text in line with Bolivarian Constitution Article 72. "New signatures, new life."

However, Olavarria warns that the parties must agree on the heading and wording of the text, as well as draw up clear norms as regards signing the paper to avoid sabotage and errors and it must be organized within 11 days.

If the campaign starts on May 18 there should be sufficient signatures by July 31 to take to the National Electoral College (CNE), in other words, the opposition has 75 days to collect 3 million signatures (40,000 per day).  After that, the opposition will need at least 2 weeks to audit and verify the signatures between August 1-20.

If all this action is postponed to await a decision on whether the February 2 signatures are valid or not, it will mean waiting till July 15. If the "Firmazo" is declared null, then it means 200,000 signatures would have to be collected per day to beat the deadline.