Venezuela High Crt Mulling Proposal To Suspend Feb 2 Vote

sg.biz.yahoo.com Wednesday January 15, 11:12 PM

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela's supreme court on Wednesday was considering whether to approve a proposal to suspend a nonbinding vote, currently slated for Feb. 2, on whether President Hugo Chavez should remain in office, a court spokesperson told Dow Jones Newswires.

A ruling may be delivered by the end of the day, the spokesperson said.

Regardless of the ruling, the opposition will continue to press for an early vote of some kind, said Lope Mendoza, the president of Venezuela's biggest association of industries, Conindustria, which has backed the opposition.

ADVERTISEMENTThe proposal in the high court is in response to a complaint filed by Chavez supporters who claimed the so-called Popular Consultation is unconstitutional.

Opposition leaders have said Chavez would likely lose the nonbinding vote so convincingly he'd be embarrassed into quitting.

But Chavez, whose term runs through early 2007, has said he won't resign even if he loses by 90%. His supporters have said they'll boycott the vote completely so it would be hard to tell how Chavez fared.

Chavez has argued that presidential term limits are already covered in another article of the constitution which allows for a recall vote at the halfway point of his term - August this year, in his case.

Venezuela's government is battling an ongoing 45-day-old general strike aimed at forcing Chavez to declare early elections.

Chavez's critics blame him for an anticipated 8% economic contraction in 2002, amid 18% unemployment, and 31% inflation.

-By Jehan Senaratna, Dow Jones Newswires; 58 212 564 1339; jehan.senaratna@dowjones.com