Caracas, Venezuela: The Venezuelan opposition’s push for a vote to remove President Nicolas Maduro ran into a roadblock on Thursday when authorities announced a delay in setting the date for the final stage in the process.

The leftist president’s opponents must collect four million signatures in three days to trigger a referendum—the last step in a bureaucratic obstacle course they are racing to complete by the end of the year.

After months of political wrangling and mass street protests, the National Electoral Council (CNE) was supposed to announce on Friday when that three-day period will start. The Council had already postponed the announcement from Wednesday.

However, late Thursday the Council again postponed the decision. It argued in a statement that its workers were threatened by nationwide protests that the opposition has called for Friday to keep up the pressure.

Work would resume on Monday, the council said, without saying if it would then set a definite date.

The Council ‘agreed on the measure after ... calls for protests’ at the CNE offices across the country, many of which have been attacked since the recall process began in April, the statement read.

The CNE has already said it is looking at late October for the three-day petition drive. The opposition says that is too late and accuses the authorities of stalling.

The center-right coalition behind the referendum drive, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), is racing to force a vote by January 10, which is the deadline to trigger new elections.

After that date, a loss for Maduro—widely blamed for the country’s economic meltdown and soaring inflation—would simply transfer power to his hand-picked vice president for the rest of his term, extending the socialist ‘revolution’ launched in 1999 by late president Hugo Chavez to at least 20 years.

The opposition alleges the electoral authorities are in bed with Maduro—along with the Supreme Court, which has systematically blocked opposition bills since it won control of the legislature in December.

Seeking leverage, the opposition has organized a series of protests.

It estimates a million people took to the streets in the largest one, on September 1.

Battle over timeline

If the opposition gets the required four million signatures in favor of a recall vote—20 percent of the electorate—the CNE will have a month to verify them, then three months to organize the referendum.

A late October petition drive would probably mean a referendum in March 2017.

Political analysts warn the country risks erupting into unrest if it does not happen before then.

Eighty percent of Venezuelans want a change of government, according to the polling firm Datanalisis.

The oil-rich country has skidded into crisis as global crude prices have plunged since mid-2014, pushing Chavez and Maduro’s socialist model to the brink.

Venezuelans spend long hours lining up outside supermarkets and pharmacies, only to find bare shelves and soaring prices inside.

The country is facing its third year of deep recession this year, with inflation set to top 700 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Maduro blames the crisis on an ‘economic war’ by the Venezuelan elite backed by ‘American imperialism.’

To alleviate growing hunger, he has launched an emergency supply plan overseen by no fewer than 18 army generals—one each for rice, beans, toilet paper and 15 other staples.