No new vote in Venezuela if Chavez sworn in late: official

[Zorro]

Source: Reuters

Venezuela will not call fresh elections if Hugo Chavez's cancer prevents him from taking office by January 10, the head of Congress said on Saturday, despite a constitutional mandate that the swearing-in take place on that date.

Chavez is recovering in Cuba from a six-hour cancer operation that followed his October re-election. The socialist leader has not been heard from for nearly two weeks, raising doubts as to whether he will be fit to continue governing.

Opposition leaders may pounce on the issue of the swearing-in date to demand that authorities call fresh elections because of Chavez's apparently critical state of health due to an undisclosed type of cancer in the pelvic region.

A constitutional dispute over succession could lead to a messy transition toward a post-Chavez era in the South American nation with the world's largest oil reserves.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/no-vote-venezuela-chavez-sworn-official-214216166.html

[Ken Burch]

1. You'd think they could just fly whoever would swear Chavez in over to Cuba

and perform the swearing-in there.

No reason at this point to push for a new vote...and it would be kind of indecent of, say, Capriles or someone else on the right came to power just because Chavez died.

[naaman fletcher]

2. But,

I have been told for years here how awesome Venezuelan democracy is.

Now we will just ignore the constitution and not have a vote?

[Ken Burch]

5. Does the constitution actually require a snap election if the president dies?

They didn't have a snap election here when JFK was shot.

[naaman fletcher]

11. I am not an expert on the venezuelan constitution

But the issue here is not, I don't think, the president dying. It's the winner of the election (in this case the president) dying before he is even sworn in. Apparently the VZ constitution says that therefore there needs to be another election.

[Ash_F]

19. If the issue is not dying, then there is even less of a reason to do that.

"Apparently the VZ constitution says that therefore there needs to be another election." - The article does not state this either.

[naaman fletcher]

21. Yes, the article doesn't say it,

but there have been multiple posts about it that cite it.

[wordpix]

12. Chavez has been ignoring the Constitution or changing it to gain more power for his 14 yr. in office

This is par for the course but some people here think, just because Chavez is allegedly a "leftist" he's great. The man is a dictator, end of subject.

[Judi Lynn]

13. Why not provide credible sources for your claims the massively elected Chavez "ignored" or "changed"

the Venezuelan Constitution?

You'd be educating all the Democrats here who don't seem to have your depth of knowledge on the subject, after all their study, and searching for information.

[wordpix]

16. my info comes from a family that fled Venezuela - the father for his life because

he exercised his right of free speech. Chavez's goons came to his home twice to either "talk" to him or take him away. (The father missed the "visit&quot . He is now in the US, a political refugee. I cannot reveal anymore as I don't know who is monitoring these Venezuelan blogs when articles are published.

The family followed the father after one son was kidnapped due to the insecurity situation over there. People are regularly kidnapped off the street for ransom and it is not Chavez who is directly responsible, but he certainly is not getting control of the situation, which is getting worse. Recall the Norwegian embassy pulled their people out due to the security situation, or rather lack thereof.

I have spoken to this family for hours about Chavez and Venezuela. It doesn't matter if you are left or right if your basic Constitutional rights are gradually being eaten away---that's the way I see it.

Another thing===Chavez has changed the Constitution already so that the presidential term is now lengthened to six yrs.---that is one reason he's in power after 14 years. And there is no term limit re: no. of terms, so he's going into something like his 4th. Imagine if GWBush had 20 years in power b/c he kept changing the Constitution and presidential term limits and the number of years per term.

[Ken Burch]

14. We don't even know yet that Chavez WON'T be sworn in.

Of course, as an anti-chavista(that is, someone who wants an "free market", and therefore totally right-wing future for Venezuela and the hemisphere)it doesn't survive me that you'd be insisting that trickery is occurring here.

[naaman fletcher]

17. Huh?

I am not the one who wrote the article or speculated.

It was Chavez's own people who did the speculation, and Chavez's own people who announced that they won't follow the constitution. Don't point the finger at me.

[joshcryer]

4. The opposition has little chance of coming to power with a rushed election.

I don't see Capriles coming to power when Chavez dies. I might've thought it a few months ago but I was in the bubble and failed to recognize the power that chavistas hold within Venezuela.

[joshcryer]

3. Following their own constitution isn't common for Chavistas.

So this is quite unsurprising.

[Ken Burch]

6. Does the constitution actually REQUIRE a snap election here?

They just had an election...I don't think that that election is nullified by the death of the winning candidate.

[ronnie624]

7. The constitution says

he must be sworn-in before the National Assembly or the Supreme Tribunal of Justice on January 10. I don't believe it mentions a snap election if this cannot be accomplished by that date. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice could easily fly to Cuba to administer the oath.

The relevant section is Title V, Chapter II, Section one:

http://venezuelanalysis.com/constitution/title/5

[joshcryer]

9. It says they must have elections in 30 days.

Some interpret it as meaning they must have elections 30 days after the announcement, or make the date within that 30 day time frame and have them later if they choose. Regardless, the chavistas need to get it over with quick while Venezuelans are still high from electing Chavez and the governors.

The Jan 10 date is in stone, delaying it further as they are going to do is 100% unconstitutional.

[ronnie624]

10. Lol.

You're making stuff up. You have no idea what you're talking about.

[bitchkitty]

18. But he is amusing, no? n/t

[ronnie624]

24. *

[joshcryer]

22. Citation?

[Ken Burch]

15. We don't even KNOW that Chavez won't be sworn in in time yet.

You're assuming that something illegitimate is going to happen here. It's more than likely that they'd just fly the person who would swear Chavez in over to Cuba if need be. I'd advise them to do that, and there's no reason why Chavez couldn't be sworn in while standing on the soil of another country.

You can't just automatically jump to the conclusion that Chavez' party will be acting in an unconstitutional way, you know.

And if, as you say, Capriles probably wouldn't win a snap election(the last vote did pretty clearly indicate that MOST Venezuelans don't want Capriles and his alliance to come to power, as did the Chavista landslide in the state elections)why are you pushing so hard for a snap vote anyway?

[joshcryer]

23. The CHAVISTAS are the ones saying what they'll do if he can't meet the deadline.

They're saying they'll ignore the constitution and wait until he's better to swear him in. Simple.

[Blackhawk44]

8. Weekend at Hugo's

we have no idea if any of this
story is true or not

[Ash_F]

20. Rotters is at it again.

Reading the article carefully, no where does it state that there must be another election if the President is unable to attend, according to their constitution. Yet the title and first few paragraphs are carefully constructed to create that impression.

The document does not have a provision in the case the President is sick or otherwise unable to attend. Remember when Repubs were talking about other-throwing the election results from November through procedural shenanigans? We had a good laugh. Same crap, different country.

Reuters should be disqualified from LBN. They may employ some decent journalists but their editors butcher the news like this constantly, and always to the benefit of the right-wing nutters.