CARACAS – The vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, or PSUV, Diosdado Cabello, said on Monday that the opposition will be given no concessions in its request for a recall referendum, and will require that all steps to prepare for that procedure must be strictly complied with.

“It is impossible to hold a referendum here in Venezuela this year, they can say what they want,” Cabello told a press conference by way of repeating that, according to his calculations, the procedure for organizing a recall referendum, as the opposition wishes to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office, will necessarily take 243 days.

“We ask that every stage of the process be complied with as the law requires, not every stage as the right would like,” he said.

The Chavista also spoke of the work being done by a presidential commission designated by Maduro to check on the signatures of opposition members on ballots calling for a recall, a procedure during which, Cabello said, “no concessions” will be given.

“We’re not giving them options of any kind,” he said.

He also said the National Electoral Council, or CNE, will be required to hand over all the information about who signed the recall request, because, he said, Chavistas have to know exactly who want to remove the Venezuelan head of state.

Cabello also said a demonstration will be held Tuesday condemning the aggression against several police officers by opposition members during a recent march to demand that procedures for the recall referendum be completed more quickly.

The ruling party, including Maduro himself, has said up to now that it is “impossible” to hold a referendum this year, but for now electoral authorities have not given an opinion on the matter.