Post by livinginmedellin on Oct 13, 2016 8:37:55 GMT -5
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has stripped the congress of budgetary oversight, removing the last practical powers of the only public institution opposed to President Nicolás Maduro amid the country’s deepening economic crisis.
The Supreme Court said in a ruling published late Tuesday that it will take over all budgetary functions from the National Assembly, because its leaders, who oppose Mr. Maduro, stand in contempt of court for not obeying earlier unrelated rulings.
Mr. Maduro is expected in coming days to present next year’s spending plans for approval to the court, the first time a budget won’t be read to congress since 1861, according to Alfonso Marquina, the head of the Assembly’s finance committee.
“The supreme court is usurping our powers,” Mr. Marquina said. “Even during dictatorships the budgets went to congress.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling is the latest in a series of moves made by Mr. Maduro and his judicial allies to chip away at congressional powers since the opposition won control of the National Assembly in December, delivering the biggest electoral blow to the government in 17 years. Since then, judges and policemen have suspended lawmakers without trial, taken away congressional oversight over public officials and thrown opposition leaders in jail on charges ranging from terrorism to improper waste disposal.
“Nothing like this assault on democratic powers happened in Venezuela at least since the 1950s,” said Javier Corrales, professor of political science and Venezuela expert at Amherst College in Massachusetts. “This decision by the Supreme Court is further evidence of the hardening of Maduro’s dictatorial rule.”
The opposition alliance has said it would now focus on staging a constitutionally permitted recall referendum on Mr. Maduro, which many political scientists see as the country’s best chance to stop the economic collapse and avoid a further slide into autocracy. Venezuela’s economy will contract 10% this year, with annual inflation expected to rise to 1,600% in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The opposition held small rallies across the country Wednesday to prepare supporters for an upcoming signature drive required to trigger the referendum. They would need to collect nearly four million signatures over three days starting Oct. 26.
That will likely prove to be a Herculean task, given the conditions imposed by Mr. Maduro’s allies in the national electoral council. Only 5,400 polling booths exist for 19 million voters, with stations particularly scarce in the remote jungle and savanna states.
The opposition needs to get 20% of registered voters to the stations in each of the 24 states to trigger the referendum, which the electoral council said could happen around March if the conditions are met.
If the referendum is called, recent polls show Mr. Maduro would be swept out of office in a landslide. A vice president of his choosing would then get to finish out his term ending 2019.
See: www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-cuts-congress-out-of-budgetary-process-1476294621
What a joke of a country - elites refuse to give up as the country continues in a free fall.
The Supreme Court said in a ruling published late Tuesday that it will take over all budgetary functions from the National Assembly, because its leaders, who oppose Mr. Maduro, stand in contempt of court for not obeying earlier unrelated rulings.
Mr. Maduro is expected in coming days to present next year’s spending plans for approval to the court, the first time a budget won’t be read to congress since 1861, according to Alfonso Marquina, the head of the Assembly’s finance committee.
“The supreme court is usurping our powers,” Mr. Marquina said. “Even during dictatorships the budgets went to congress.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling is the latest in a series of moves made by Mr. Maduro and his judicial allies to chip away at congressional powers since the opposition won control of the National Assembly in December, delivering the biggest electoral blow to the government in 17 years. Since then, judges and policemen have suspended lawmakers without trial, taken away congressional oversight over public officials and thrown opposition leaders in jail on charges ranging from terrorism to improper waste disposal.
“Nothing like this assault on democratic powers happened in Venezuela at least since the 1950s,” said Javier Corrales, professor of political science and Venezuela expert at Amherst College in Massachusetts. “This decision by the Supreme Court is further evidence of the hardening of Maduro’s dictatorial rule.”
The opposition alliance has said it would now focus on staging a constitutionally permitted recall referendum on Mr. Maduro, which many political scientists see as the country’s best chance to stop the economic collapse and avoid a further slide into autocracy. Venezuela’s economy will contract 10% this year, with annual inflation expected to rise to 1,600% in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The opposition held small rallies across the country Wednesday to prepare supporters for an upcoming signature drive required to trigger the referendum. They would need to collect nearly four million signatures over three days starting Oct. 26.
That will likely prove to be a Herculean task, given the conditions imposed by Mr. Maduro’s allies in the national electoral council. Only 5,400 polling booths exist for 19 million voters, with stations particularly scarce in the remote jungle and savanna states.
The opposition needs to get 20% of registered voters to the stations in each of the 24 states to trigger the referendum, which the electoral council said could happen around March if the conditions are met.
If the referendum is called, recent polls show Mr. Maduro would be swept out of office in a landslide. A vice president of his choosing would then get to finish out his term ending 2019.
See: www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-cuts-congress-out-of-budgetary-process-1476294621
What a joke of a country - elites refuse to give up as the country continues in a free fall.