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Political conflict may spark "constitutional war" in Venezuela: lawyer

Xinhua, January 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

A brewing conflict between Venezuela's executive, legislative and judicial branches may spark a "constitutional war" in 2016, a constitutional lawyer said Thursday.

"Lamentably, the National Assembly (AN) with an opposition majority refuses to obey a provisional judicial decision which suspends the effects of an administrative act of the National Electoral Council. This could be seen as an act of rebellion against the judicial branch," Jesus Silva told Xinhua.

On Wednesday, the new opposition majority in the AN, controlled by the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), swore in three of its lawmakers from the state of Amazonas, which had been barred by the Supreme Court of Justice for electoral irregularities.

Socialist deputy Diosdado Cabello, from the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP) bloc, used his weekly television show, "Con el mazo dando", to blast the new assembly as "illegitimate."

"With this swearing-in, all acts will now be illegal and illegitimate. They are themselves illegitimate as they ignore the judicial branch," Cabello said, adding that this "provocative and destabilizing attitude" was derived from "imperialist orders."

For Silva, the ignoring of Venezuelan institutions "constitutes a parliamentary coup" against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The MUD, which won a majority on Dec.6 in the assembly for the first time in nearly 17 years, has vowed to impeach Maduro within six months by constitutional means, a move Maduro accused of destabilizing the government.

"The only way to maintain peace and democracy is for Nicolas Maduro to remain president with the help of the people," the president said in a public address last Saturday.

Silva pointed out that the MUD has not announced "the mechanisms it will use to succeed in such an objective, and there are deep doubts as to whether such mechanisms would be constitutional."

"Other powers must fight back against infractions to the constitution and return us on the road to democracy," he said. Endi