A positive step towards saving this democracy

August 4, 2003

The Constitutional Hall of the Venezuelan Supreme Court just ruled the omission by the National Assembly in choosing the Electoral Board and gave the Assembly ten days to act on it or it will be forced to choose it. The Hall said that if the Assembly does not fullfill its role, then it will name an Electoral Comission (CNE) within the next ten days. The Court argued that it is the guarantor of the Constitution and since the Assembly has not reached the required two thirds consensus it had to step in. The ruling says that the new CNE would be only temporary, but its decisions would be binding and that those chosen by the Court may or not come from the 86 names proposed to the National Assembly. If the Assembly does not name the CNE, there should be a working one by Aug. 24th. which will guarantee that, if all is in order, the recall referendum may take place before the end of the year. A very positive and necessary (not sufficient!!) step to preserve democracy in Venezuela!

This entry was posted on August 4, 2003 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Venezuela.

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