Second petition to oust Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro

Opponents of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro have gathered enough signatures to permit them to conduct a second petition drive aimed at removing the socialist leader from office.

The electoral authorities said the opposition coalition collected signatures from at least 1% of voters in each state — a requirement for pursuing a petition calling for a recall election.

The opposition now faces a much tougher challenge, as it must gather signatures from 20% of Venezuela’s registered voters, or four million people, to force a recall election and it will have just three days to do it.