CARACAS, Venezuela — Top officials in the government of President Hugo Chávez, who is recuperating from cancer surgery in Cuba, say they will postpone his inauguration, now set for Jan. 10, if he is too ill to return to Venezuela to begin his new term.
Opposition politicians and commentators have said that if Mr. Chávez is not in Venezuela to be sworn in on that date, a constitutional provision would kick in requiring that a new election be held within 30 days.
But government officials loyal to Mr. Chávez have forcefully rejected that notion and said the swearing-in could take place at a later date.
“Jan. 10 is a date that the Constitution holds as a formality for the swearing-in,” Attorney General Cilia Flores said Monday in televised remarks to reporters after a church service during which top government officials prayed for Mr. Chávez’s recovery. She said the Constitution allowed the date to be postponed.
“What we have is a president who has been re-elected, and he will be sworn in on that day or on another later date,” she said.
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas announced Monday that Mr. Chávez had shown a “slight improvement” in his slow recovery from cancer surgery and had sent a greeting wishing the nation a Merry Christmas.
Officials have released little specific information about the emergency surgery Mr. Chávez underwent on Dec. 11 but have described it as complex and difficult. They have said Mr. Chávez encountered complications arising from the surgery, including bleeding and a lung infection. More recently, they described his condition as stable but delicate.
Mr. Chávez was re-elected president on Oct. 7 with 55 percent of the vote, compared with 44 percent for his rival, Henrique Capriles, a state governor.
The Constitution calls for a newly elected president to take office on Jan. 10 by being sworn in before the National Assembly. It goes on to say that “if, for any unexpected reason, the president of the republic cannot take possession before the National Assembly, he will do it before the Supreme Court of Justice.”
Diosdado Cabello, the head of the National Assembly, said last week that because the second clause did not contain a date or indicate a place, the swearing-in could happen at any time.
On Monday, Vice President Nicolás Maduro also said there was room in the Constitution to delay the swearing-in. The president had received permission from the National Assembly to be out of the country indefinitely for his cancer operation, and the permission could be extended past Jan. 10, said Mr. Maduro, whom Mr. Chávez said he wanted to succeed him if he could not continue in office. “The Constitution is very clear,” Mr. Maduro said.
José Vicente Haro, a professor in constitutional law at Andrés Bello Catholic University, had a different view. He said government officials were trying to argue that because Mr. Chávez was re-elected, his old term could simply be extended without a formal swearing-in. He called that an incorrect interpretation and said that after Jan. 10 the cabinet ministers appointed by Mr. Chávez in his current term could no longer hold office.
Mr. Haro, who has served as a consultant to the political coalition opposed to Mr. Chávez, said, “Without doubt there is a constitutional crisis, and it is of such gravity that the legislative power, the executive power and the Supreme Court have had to make statements trying to clear up the doubts and uncertainty that they themselves have created because they don’t want to follow the Constitution.”
Hugo Chávez Aides Want to Postpone Swearing-In
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Hugo Chávez Aides Want to Postpone Swearing-In
