Venezuela's opposition claiming victory over allegedly diluted Chavez Frias majority
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 By: David Coleman
Venezuela's opposition is claiming congressional victory over what they describe as President Hugo Chavez Frias' "diluted majority" after they succeeded in rejection of a reform to internal parliamentary debate rules, Tuesday.
But they may have preempted a ruling by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) which was asked, Monday, to decide on the legality of an external session of Venezuela's congress convened on Friday of last week on the steps of the El Calvario monument after opposition deputies went berserk in an attempt to filibuster passage.
- The El Calvario Congress, held with a quorum of 83 members of parliament, approved the motion which the opposition are now seeking to have declared illegal.
Parliamentary rules state unequivocally that at least 50% + 1 of the nation's 164 legislators must be in attendance at any plenary session to have legal effect but opposition Accion Democratica (AD) secretary general Henry Ramos Allup disputes that any quorum of 83 was indeed achieved ... "The truth is that they did not gather together the 83 deputies that were necessary to validate the little circus they committed to last week ... the vote should have taken place in El Capitolio anyway!"
Nevertheless, political observers see the brouhaha as just the latest in a series of delaying tactics by opposition deputies who are attempting to show that the Chavez Frias government is slow and ineffective ... many are now admitting it will be impossible for them to appoint a new National Electoral College (CNE) board of directors in time to kick-start democratic procedures after August 19 when President Hugo Chavez Frias' term of office reaches its halfway point.
The CNE board is necessary to direct a massive revision of electoral registers and to eliminate falsifications and deceased voters from the rolls before a preliminary vote can be held to ask Congress to call for a revocatory referendum.
Government deputies at the El Calvario session of congress said they were forced to take remedial action after 79 opposition deputies attempted to turn the ordinary session to utter chaos. In somewhat childish response the opposition decided to boycott Friday's session claiming it was being held "on enemy territory" despite special security arrangements and the presence of 5,000 National Guardsmen to protect proceedings.
Pending the TSJ ruling, the Friday-approved motion remains suspended ... the government bench counterclaims that the opposition is using a party political imbalance on an internal debates and procedure committee to filibuster a series of necessary reform laws which will take Venezuelan governance away from the political-economic corruption of the last 50 years. The reforms also include a regulation of radio and television broadcasting to set a series of controls on violence and sex at times when young children may be watching.