| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Caribbean-Latin America | |
| Venezuela: New Lawmakers Defy Supreme Court | |
| 2016-01-08 | |
| Lawmakers on Wednesday swore in three legislators who were blocked from taking their seats by the Supreme Court last month, setting up a showdown with the president’s Socialist party. The opposition won a supermajority in the National Assembly on Dec. 6, ending the United Socialist Party’s 16-year-long grip on power. But before the new legislature could take charge, the Socialists approved 13 new Supreme Court justices, and days later, the court blocked four opposition lawmakers from taking their seats. That decision has created uncertainty about the supermajority, which the president’s rivals need to gain added powers, including the ability to remove Supreme Court justices and change the Constitution. On Wednesday, three of the four politicians were sworn in over objections of the Socialists. “What’s happening today is a flagrant violation of the Venezuelan Constitution,” said Diosdado Cabello, a Socialist lawmaker and the former leader of the Assembly.
| |
| Posted by:Steve White |