Venezuelan opponent leaves jail, opposition maintains challenge to polls

A Caracas court ordered released from jail on 18 May the government opponent Antonio Rivero, detained on 27 April and accused of fomenting rioting after the 14 April presidential elections, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the Venezuelan media. The opposition has refused to recognise the official elections results that made Nicolás Maduro President. Rivero, a retired general, heads Voluntad Popular one of the parties in the opposition coalition Table of Democratic Unity (MUD). A day after his release he was in hospital for treatment for a lung infection and digestive problems likely caused by the hunger strike he undertook between 27 April and 13 May while detained, Europa Press and Globovisión reported. Separately the former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles urged Venezuelans on 18 May to participate in the legal steps the opposition had taken to challenge the presidential election results, Globovisión reported, citing Capriles's comments on the website Twitter. He provided Venezuelans with a link informing them on the steps they could take to legally challenge the results announced by the government. The opposition formally lodged two electoral complaints with the Supreme Court, one being lodged by Capriles on 2 May and the other by the MUD coalition on 7 May. These had not been processed as fast as the law allows, because the opposition also lodged complaints about three members of the Supreme Court including the president of its Electoral Chamber (Sala Electoral) Fernando Vegas, whom the opposition pointed out as related by marriage and political loyalties to government ministers, Globovisión and EFE reported.