Khaberni - The opposition in Venezuela has demanded presidential elections after more than 3 months since the United States arrested the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, at the beginning of January.
The "Vente" party, led by opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, stated in a communiqué that the legal deadline of 90 days to organize a vote intended to select Maduro’s successor has expired.
On its part, Machado's party, which has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, stated that based on this, a call for presidential elections should be made within 30 days of this announcement.
Maduro's former deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, took the oath to assume the presidency on an interim basis on the fifth of January, two days after Maduro was taken out of Venezuela on a plane belonging to the US forces to stand trial in New York.
Since then, Maduro has appeared twice before a court in New York where he faces charges related to drug trafficking.
Rodriguez still holds the position of acting President of Venezuela despite exceeding the maximum limit of 90 days for her interim role as set by the Supreme Court in the country, at a time when lawmakers have not made a decision in a public vote to extend her mandate after the deadline ended last Friday.
According to the court order, Maduro is still the official president of Venezuela, but his "forced" absence as a result of an "abduction operation" temporarily makes it impossible for him to perform his duties.
The Venezuelan constitution stipulates that the vice president shall assume power in the event of the temporary absence of the president, for a period of up to 90 days, extendable by a decision issued by the National Assembly.
Article 234 of the constitution, which the Vente party referred to in its announcement, states that "if the temporary absence continues for more than 90 consecutive days, the National Assembly, by a majority of its members' votes, decides whether the absence should be considered permanent."
