Venezuela’s opposition-held Congress extends term after disputed vote

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  • Venezuela : l’Assemblée nationale sortante, où l’opposition est majoritaire, s’autoprolonge et délègue ses pouvoirs à un comité plus restreint. Juan Guaidó reste(ra) donc président par intérim en tant que président de l’Assemblée nationale et considérant que le président Nicolás Maduro est illégitime.

    La nouvelle assemblée a été élue le 6 décembre et est pratiquement monocolore, l’opposition ayant boycotté l’élection. Elle prend ses fonctions début janvier.

    Et l’Assemblée nationale constituante, montée pour contrer l’ancienne assemblée, qui s’était auto-attribués les pouvoirs législatifs va se séparer sans avoir fait la moindre proposition de constitution.

    Venezuela’s opposition-held Congress extends term after disputed vote | Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKBN2900JS

    Venezuela’s opposition-held National Assembly on Saturday approved a statute extending its term into 2021, after a disputed Dec. 6 election in which allies of President Nicolas Maduro’s ruling socialist party won 91% of the seats in Congress.

    The South American country’s four main opposition parties boycotted the parliamentary vote, arguing conditions for a free and fair election were not met, and most Western democracies, including the United States, have said they do not recognize the election results.

    Saturday’s vote paves the way for opposition leader Juan Guaido, recognized by dozens of countries as the crisis-stricken OPEC nation’s legitimate leader, to retain his role as the parliament’s speaker. Guaido’s nearly two-year push to oust Maduro, who he labels a dictator, has been unsuccessful.

    Despite threats from the dictatorship and intimidation from the regime, the parliament will continue in this extraordinary period,” Guaido said on Saturday.

    The statute provides for a small group of legislators to carry out the National Assembly’s functions. The change comes as dozens of legislators have fled the country, or have expressed unwillingness to continue serving in Congress next year, due to what they describe as threats from the government.

    Members of one of the four major parties that make up Guaido’s coalition, Democratic Action, abstained from the vote because they did not support delegating the functions of parliament to a small group.