Lawmakers clash with police

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February 2, 2017 9:31 PM

The shoving match broke out when around a dozen National Assembly deputies shouting "Elections now!" tried to break through a line of armored police.

Riot police stand behind a banner that reads "Elections now" in fornt the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas on January 2, 2017

The shoving match broke out when around a dozen National Assembly deputies shouting "Elections now!" tried to break through a line of armored police blocking the entrance to the National Electoral Council.

The lawmakers accuse the council of stalling elections in order to save leftist President Nicolas Maduro and his allies from a humiliating defeat.

"They would lose even a parish council election at this point. That's why they're blocking (elections) any way they can," said protest leader Jose Brito, the lawmaker who ended up with his blue shirt torn.

He accused a police colonel of assaulting him.

Officials ultimately allowed eight lawmakers through to hand over a petition demanding an immediate timeline for the gubernatorial and mayoral vote, originally due to be held last December.

Electoral officials have postponed the polls to the first half of this year, without giving a reason.

Maduro's popularity has plunged as Venezuela struggles through an economic nightmare of food shortages and hyperinflation brought on by low prices for its key export, oil.

Recent polls indicate 80 percent of Venezuelans disapprove of him.

The opposition won a landslide in legislative elections in December 2015.

But the authorities have systematically blocked its efforts to continue that momentum by holding a referendum on ousting Maduro, who blames the economic crisis on a capitalist conspiracy backed by the United States.

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