Venezuelan opposition returns to the legislature

Wed, 05 Jan 2011

Caracas - The Venezuelan National Assembly launched Wednesday the new 2011-2016 legislature, with a heated debate between supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the opposition.

Over the past five years, the opposition had almost no representation in the chamber, since it boycotted the 2005 legislative election. While his opponents now have a voice in the assembly with 67 seats, Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) still outnumber them with 98 votes.

With or without a majority, Chavez will be able to ignore the National Assembly on important issues until he stands for re-election in 2012. In December, the outgoing legislature granted Chavez emergency powers to rule by decree for the next 18 months.

In Wednesday's session, the PSUV secured all the leadership positions in the legislature, a process that sparked the heated discussion..

The opposition celebrated the historic return, but denounced the fact that the number of seats they have in the chamber does not reflect the fact that they got 52 per cent of the popular vote in the September 26 election.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360890,venezuelan-opposition-returns-legislature.html.