“The opposition has enough votes to make changes to these laws, so this could be a topic of discussion in upcoming National Assembly sessions”.
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Earlier opposition lawmakers swore in three deputies who had been disqualified by the country’s Supreme Court, restoring their so-called supermajority of 112 seats in the 167-seat in the Assembly giving it widespread powers to oppose Maduro’s government.
Jan 6 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro named two university academics to major economic posts in a Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday that came as a showdown intensified between his government and a new opposition-led legislature. However congressional leaders swore them in Wed.as the body’s 1st act of official business.
Socialist lawmakers stormed out, saying that the opposition had violated the constitution and that all of their legislative acts would now be considered null. “This assembly has totally lost its legitimacy”, the legislature’s previous president, Diosdado Cabello, stated.
According to PSUV lawmakers, this represents a violation of the constitution, and that decisions made by the National Assembly while the suspended deputies are seated will be void.
The opposition accuses Maduro’s party of mismanaging the economy and leading the oil-rich country to poverty. Maduro’s foes won by a single seat a two-thirds majority in congress that would give it the power to censure Cabinet officials and even rewrite the constitution. It also makes the three seats held by the Amazonas lawmakers potentially vital.
The party, and its Chavista allies, was beaten in the congressional election of December 6 by the opposition coalition, which now has enough seats in the National Assembly to challenge President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s successor.
As well as swearing-in the suspended lawmakers, opposition leaders in congress also angered Maduro’s supporters on Wednesday by ordering portraits of the late President Hugo Chavez to be removed from the National Assembly building.
“We’re going to take this fatherland forward”, Mr. Maduro promised after introducing his cabinet.
Other lawmakers have said that they would push for the release of political prisoners jailed under Maduro’s government.
Recession-hit Venezuela has the highest inflation in the world and is suffering widespread shortages of basic products. All eyes might be on the military’s future participation within the Cupboard amid speculation in that the armed forces, where lower-ranking officers are additionally struggling from the economic issues, may try to soften its strident support for the authorities & curry favor with the strengthening opposition.
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Many Venezuelans took great offense to the disrespectful treatment of portraits of former President Hugo Chavez and South American Liberator Simon Bolivar.
