Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ruled that all decisions made by the National Assembly are null and void until three banned parliament members are removed from office.
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The court said the ruling applied to all past and future actions taken by the current assembly, which swore in three members last week, although they had been barred pending an investigation into voting irregularities in the rural state of Amazonas.
Opponents of the socialist revolution launched by the late President Hugo Chávez recently took control of the National Assembly for the first time in 17 years.
This ruling irked members of the opposition, who termed it as an attempt to undermine their historic victory in the legislative elections in December 2015, and the lawmakers were sworn in anyway.
The opposition has vowed to use those powers to force Maduro from office within six months.
Last week, the opposition-held National Assembly ignored a court injunction and swore in the lawmakers, sparking an internal political and legal battle.
Paintings of Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar decorate the stairs of the National Assembly building in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 11, 2016.
The opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), accuses Maduro of packing the court with his allies.
Speaker Henry Ramos Allup said the court was “at the administration’s service to override the people’s will”.
The opposition’s disputed “super-majority” gives it the power to remove Supreme Court judges from the bench, as well as put legislation to a referendum and call an assembly to draft a new constitution.
His predecessor, Diosdado Cabello, Mr Maduro’s number two official, meanwhile said his camp would ask the Supreme Court to rule on whether the court’s own constitutional chamber could take on legislative powers amid the standoff. Still, he doubts that they will do so, saying “I doubt that they actually will, because we know how enormously arrogant the new leaders of the National Assembly are; they are full of hate, bitterness and a desire for revenge”.
The opposition plan to introduce an amnesty law on Tuesday for jailed politicians and activists, while government lawmakers intend to push for a declaration of “national emergency” over the economic crisis.
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With rumors of coup plots and counter-coup plots swirling, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino has vowed the military’s “absolute loyalty” to Maduro.
