Cambodia’s opposition party has escalated its challenge to the country’s election results, claiming it won a majority of National Assembly seats. …read more
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Tag Archives: National Assembly
Guinea-Bissau outlaws domestic violence
Guinea-Bissau outlawed domestic violence on Friday, winning praise from women’s groups in a country where an estimated 60 percent of females are physically or sexually abused.
The west African nation’s constitution has prohibited violence against women since 2009 but police have been powerless to act in cases where victims abused at home were unwilling to come forward.
“This law will significantly contribute to a change in behaviour within Guinean families,” said Aba Serra, president of the National Assembly’s women’s affairs committee.
Women face significant discrimination in Guinea-Bissau and are denied equal pay, education and opportunities, with the majority unable to read or write.
Charities say domestic violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation, outlawed in 2011, remain widespread.
“Thirty women die each year at the hands of their husbands and the trend is growing very fast. We have to put a stop to this,” said Fatoumata Djau Balde of the government-run National Committee for the Abandonment of Harmful Practices. While the vast majority of cases of domestic violence involve men abusing women, Balde said the law would apply equally to both sexes.
“It’s about violence in the home, perpetrated against men as well as women. These acts are (now) considered a public crime,” she said.
“That is to say, in cases of violence in the home, if the man or woman does not file a complaint, the neighbours can do it for them, and the law will be applied.”
There are no definitive statistics on domestic violence in Guinea-Bissau but the government-run Institute for Women and Children estimates that almost 60 percent of women experience physical or sexual abuse at least once. “This type of violence is practised everywhere in the countryside and more and more in urban areas. Women living in poverty are more defenceless against this kind of abuse and exploitation,” a report by the institute concluded.
Penalties for those who fall foul of the new Law Against Domestic Violence range from two to 12 years in prison.
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Cambodian opposition leader returns from exile
Thousands of cheering supporters greeted Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy as he returned from self-imposed exile Friday to spearhead his party’s election campaign against well-entrenched Prime Minister Hun Sen.
“I have come home to rescue the country,” Rainsy told the crowd gathered at Phnom Penh’s airport, after kneeling to kiss the ground.
“I am happy to be here!” Rainsy shouted to be heard through a microphone as the supporters chanted, “We want change!”
The French-educated leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party has been in exile since 2009 to avoid serving 11 years in prison on charges many consider politically motivated.
Rainsy, 64, received a royal pardon last week at the request of Hun Sen, his bitter rival whose ruling party is almost certain to maintain its ironclad grip on power in the July 28 general election.
Hun Sen has ruled for 28 years, and his party has 90 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly. The prime minister recently said that he intends to stay in office until he is 74 — cutting back from an earlier vow to stay in control until he’s 90.
Critics of the government claim the election will be neither free nor fair, arguing that Hun Sen’s regime manipulates the levers of government and influences the judiciary to weaken the opposition.
Last month, 28 opposition lawmakers were expelled from parliament when a committee run by Hun Sen’s party ruled they had broken the law because they had originally won their seats in the name of the Sam Rainsy Party, but were campaigning under the recently established Cambodia National Rescue Party, into which it was merged.
They can still run in the upcoming election, but without parliamentary immunity. Immunity from arrest is a great benefit in Cambodia’s elections, and those without it are at risk of being charged with defamation for remarks seen critical of Hun Sen and his government.
Rainsy is a charismatic and fiery speaker — qualities that have landed him in trouble before.
He is expected to draw large crowds as he embarks on a whirlwind campaign tour that his party says will take him to over a dozen provinces in a week. He is likely to push …read more
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Pakistan lawmakers to elect new president on August 6
Pakistan’s lawmakers will elect a new president on August 6, the election commission said Tuesday, to replace Asif Ali Zardari who will not stand for a second term.
None of the main parties — the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) or Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — have so far announced their candidates for the election.
The PMLN won a majority in May’s parliamentary election and their nominee is expected to win the presidential poll, voted on by members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies.
Zardari, who came to power in 2008 on a wave of public support after the assassination of his wife Benazir Bhutto, had already announced his intention not to stand again, and given the PMLN’s power he stood little chance of re-election in any case.
Following constitutional amendments brought in by the last PPP government, the Pakistani president has a largely symbolic role with little real power, though Zardari was often seen as a sharp political operator behind the scenes.
“Candidates will file nomination papers on July 24 followed by scrutiny of papers on July 26,” according to the schedule for presidential election, released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday.
Polling will be held on August 6 at parliament house in Islamabad and in the four provincial assembly buildings.
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Pakistan to hold presidential election Aug. 6
Pakistan says it will hold an election for the country’s president on Aug. 6.
The country’s election commission said in a statement Tuesday that candidates can submit their nomination papers until July 24.
Pakistan’s president is elected by members of the Senate, National Assembly and the assemblies of the four provinces.
The current president, Asif Ali Zardari, has said he does not plan to run for a second term. His term ends in early September. His party, the Pakistan People’s Party, suffered a heavy defeat in parliamentary elections held in May.
The big winner in the election was the Pakistan Muslim League-N, led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The position of president in Pakistan became largely ceremonial after a constitutional amendment in 2010 transferred significant power to the prime minister.
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Bhutan officials count votes in 2nd-ever elections
Hundreds of thousands of people in the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan went to the polls Saturday to elect a government in the country’s second parliamentary elections.
Officials began counting the votes after polls closed, and the results were expected to be made public on Sunday, Chief Election Commissioner Kunzang Wangdi said. Nearly 382,000 people were eligible to cast their vote to elect a 47-member National Assembly.
“Preliminary estimates indicate that more than 80 percent of the electorate has voted,” Wangdi said.
Primaries held in May had eliminated three of five political parties, leaving Bhutan’s ruling Peace and Prosperity Party and the main opposition People’s Democratic Party in the fray.
The remote nation of about 738,000 held its first election in 2008 after King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk voluntarily reduced the monarchy’s role in running the country.
Prior to Saturday’s voting, election authorities had set up 850 polling stations, including in hard-to-reach mountain villages.
Long lines snaked out from polling stations throughout the day, with people coming out in droves to choose their representatives.
Authorities sealed off Bhutan’s borders with neighboring India, and the Bhutanese army assisted the country’s small police force to ensure that the elections passed peacefully, Wangdi said.
International poll observers from Britain, India and the European Union were in Bhutan, Wangdi said.
“The international observers are free to travel to any polling station to see the poll being conducted,” he said.
In the May primaries, the governing Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, or Peace and Prosperity Party, headed by outgoing Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley, secured 45 percent of the vote compared to the opposition PDP’s 35 percent.
Campaigning ahead of Saturday’s elections was largely subdued, with the 94 candidates holding small public meetings and rallies and participating in debates on state-run television.
In a bid to keep the elections free, the election commission prohibited candidates from offering food, including the customary cheese and beer, to people attending the rallies.
“No freebies. This was our directive to the political …read more
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Iraq's Kurds to hold local elections in September
Iraqi Kurds will elect a new parliament and president for their oil-rich, self-ruled region on Sept. 21.
A government statement issued on Thursday says Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish region, approved the date and called for transparent elections.
The vote for a new 111-seat National Assembly will be the third election in the three-province region since 2005.
Following the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the Kurdish area was recognized as an autonomous region that is in many ways politically independent from Baghdad.
Since then, the two main Kurdish parties — the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Democratic Party of Kurdistan — have joined forces to rule the region.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/4V6_Z5u0IFQ/
7 killed in post-election protests in Venezuela, chief prosecutor says
Venezuela‘s chief prosecutor said Tuesday that seven people have been killed and 61 injured in protests following presidential elections in which the opposition candidate is demanding a recount.
Prosecutor Luisa Ortega did not provide any details about the deaths or injuries or how they occurred. But she said the seven killed were humble members of the working class, a suggestion that the opposition might be to blame.
Chavez’s chosen successor Nicolas Maduro was certified the winner of a presidential election Monday amid questions about his ability to lead after squandering a double-digit lead in the race despite an outpouring of sympathy for his party following Chavez’s death.
But protests across the country are posing a challenge even before he deals with Venezuela‘s mounting problems.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles is demanding a recount of Sunday’s election that he narrowly lost. As the National Electoral Council proclaimed Maduro the victor, people stood on their balconies in Caracas apartment buildings banging pots and pans in protest. Across town, thousands of students briefly clashed with National Guard troops who fired tear gas and plastic bullets.
Protests continued on Tuesday.
In the city center, a divided district, government supporters tried to drown out the noise by setting off deafening firecrackers. Some drove trucks with megaphones, shouting pro-Chavista slogans through megaphones. Pedestrians shouted “Chavez lives! Maduro continues!”
Anti-Maduro protests also broke out in other regions, including Chavez’s home state of Barinas.
Late Monday, Maduro announced he had met with a newly created “anti-coup” command at the military museum that holds Chavez’s remains. He accused opposition protesters of attacking government clinics and the house of electoral council President Tibisay Lucena, without offering details. He said the government was investigating a possible death.
Maduro isn’t without advantages. The presidency was made immensely stronger by the charismatic Chavez during his 14 years in power, and the ruling socialists will dominate the National Assembly for at least two more years before new elections are held.
Government leaders and military leaders closed ranks around Maduro on Monday in a series of television appearances to defend the official vote count and accuse Capriles of trying to foment violence.
Still, hours before the show of unity, a key Chavista leader showed a flash of discontent.
Diosdado Cabello, the National Assembly president who many consider Maduro’s chief rival within the “Chavismo” movement, expressed dismay in two Twitter messages after the electoral council president announced the election results. In the first, he called for a “profound self-criticism” within Chavista ranks. In the second, he wrote: “We should look for our faults under the rocks if we have to.”
Diego Moya-Ocampos, an analyst with the London-based consulting firm IHS Global Insight, said members of the ruling socialist party PSUV “realize that Maduro is not the man to guarantee continuity of the Chavista movement.”
Cabello expressed disbelief at Capriles’ strong showing, asking why “sectors of the poor population would vote for their exploiters of old.”
That might not be such a mystery.
Among Venezuela‘s problems are crumbling infrastructure, persistent shortages of food and medicine, and double-digit inflation. The nonprofit Venezuelan Violence Observatory estimates
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/UHYPHUYDcRs/
Chavez heir begins 6-year term with weak mandate
Nearly half Venezuela‘s voters don’t want Nicolas Maduro in the presidential chair. He’s inherited a dysfunctional economy, a deteriorating power grid and one of the world’s highest homicide rates. And a glimmer of discontent already has surfaced in the movement of Hugo Chavez, who picked him to carry on the socialist revolution.
Maduro was certified the winner of a disputed presidential election Monday amid questions about his ability to lead after he squandered a double-digit lead in the race despite an outpouring of sympathy following Chavez’s death.
Even before he deals with Venezuela‘s mounting problems, Maduro faces a challenge to his victory.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles demanded a recount of Sunday’s election that he narrowly lost. As the National Electoral Council proclaimed Maduro the victor, people stood on their balconies in Caracas apartment buildings banging pots and pans in protest. Across town, thousands of students briefly clashed with National Guard troops who fired tear gas and plastic bullets.
The tensions persisted through the evening. Residents resumed their pot-banging as Maduro held a news conference, some pouring out into the streets.
In the city center, a divided district, government supporters tried to drown out the noise by setting off deafening firecrackers. Some drove trucks with megaphones, shouting pro-Chavista slogans through megaphones. Pedestrians shouted “Chavez lives! Maduro continues!”
Anti-Maduro protests also broke out in other regions, including Chavez’s home state of Barinas.
Late Tuesday, Maduro announced he had met with a newly created “anti-coup” command at the military museum that holds Chavez’s remains. He accused opposition protesters of attacking government clinics and the house of electoral council President Tibisay Lucena, without offering details. He said the government was investigating a possible death.
Maduro isn’t without strengths. The presidency was made immensely stronger by the charismatic Chavez during his 14 years in power, and the ruling socialists will dominate the National Assembly for at least two more years.
Government leaders and military leaders closed ranks around Maduro on Monday in a series of television appearances to defend the official vote count and accuse Capriles of trying to foment violence.
Still, hours before the show of unity, a key Chavista leader showed a flash of discontent.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/chy1H05FZ8M/
French Senate passes gay marriage bill
The French Senate voted Friday to legalize same-sex marriage in France, putting a landmark bill on track to become law by summer.
The vote in the upper house of Parliament — led by President Francois Hollande’s Socialists — comes despite boisterous protests. Opponents, mostly conservatives and fervent Roman Catholics, have sought to defend traditional marriage.
France‘s justice minister, one of the bill’s loudest supporters, said the reform recognizes that many children are already living with same-sex parents and deserve the same protections afforded children of opposite-sex parents.
“These are children that scrape their knees, eat too much candy, don’t like broccoli, drive you crazy… we protect them,” Christine Taubira told senators following the vote.
The justice minister said the reform will “move our institutions towards ever more freedom, equality and personal respect.”
Both houses of Parliament will now take up a second reading to consider minor Senate changes to the bill passed in February by the National Assembly, also controlled by a Socialist-led majority.
Some conservative senators vowed to continue their opposition to the bill.
“The parliamentary process continues so we will keep talking with the French people who seem to change their position,” said UMP party senator Jean-Pierre Raffarin. “So nothing is definitive and the debate continues.”
Polls have shown a narrow majority of French support legalizing gay marriage, though that support falls when questions about adoption and conception of children come into play.
The bill would allow gay marriage and let same-sex couples adopt children. On the campaign trail last year, Hollande pledged to push through such legislation if elected.
About a dozen mostly European nations already allow gay marriage.
Opponents and supporters of the bill have staged loud demonstrations throughout the bill’s passage through Parliament. In mid-January, at least 340,000 people swarmed on the Eiffel Tower to protest the plan to legalize gay marriage, according to police estimates. Two weeks later, about 125,000 proponents of the bill marched in the capital.
French civil unions, allowed since 1999, are at least as popular among heterosexuals as among gay and lesbian couples. But that law has no provisions for adoption or assisted reproduction.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/pt81heQE7zg/
Scandal of disgraced French taxman widens
He feels hounded and, like a marked man, says he changes locations every few days.
Less than a month ago, Jerome Cahuzac, France‘s disgraced former budget minister, was the hunter, with an eye out for any citizen who cheated tax authorities by hiding cash abroad. He was devoted to President Francois Hollande‘s effort to fill the government‘s depleted coffers as the economy sputtered.
Cahuzac’s belated admission that he kept his own secret offshore accounts is now destabilizing France‘s Socialist government, less than a year after Hollande assumed office with pledges to replace the perceived “bling-bling” of his conservative predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, with moral rectitude.
The scent of scandal expanded this week to Cahuzac’s boss, Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, with allegations by a weekly magazine that he knew of his colleague’s guilt in December — a claim Moscovici denies.
And Cahuzac, 60, who was formally expelled from the Socialist Party this week and says he is on the run from paparazzi, may not be done causing havoc.
He indicated he is considering a return to the parliamentary seat he gave up to become minister, as allowed by law, a notion that appalls former colleagues.
The scandal surrounding Cahuzac, uncovered by journalists, has inspired the French media to poke into a number of politicians’ finances.
In his first interview since resigning last month, Cahuzac told a southern France newspaper, La Depeche du Midi, that he “changes households every two days to flee the pressure.” He was quoted as saying he’s surprised how quickly the media follow his trail.
Cahuzac said he hasn’t decided whether to return to his seat in the National Assembly, the lower house. “I haven’t yet made my decision,” he said. By law, he has until April 19 to do so.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Friday that such a return would be “a terrible indecency.”
French authorities have filed preliminary charges against Cahuzac for alleged money laundering, and their counterparts in Switzerland are providing information on accounts there. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a 375,000 euro ($481,500) fine.
Earlier this week, the weekly magazine Valeurs Actuelles alleged that
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/Jw2gx0UyvOM/
Ivory Coast president can rule by decree
An Ivory Coast legislative official said Wednesday that lawmakers had given President Alassane Ouattara the authority to rule by decree on social and economic issues for 2013.
Daouda Maiga, a member of the National Assembly‘s communications staff, said an overwhelming majority of the 178 lawmakers present voted in favor of the measure Wednesday. He said four voted against and one abstained.
Maiga added that Ouattara’s decrees will still need to be reviewed and approved by lawmakers later in the year.
Ouattara’s governing coalition has a majority in the 255-seat parliament.
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Gay Marriage Law Passes Crucial Vote In France
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Gays and lesbians in France may soon be able to marry and become parents.
The marriage equality bill currently before lawmakers would grant French same-sex couples the right to wed and jointly adopt children.
Although the first article of the bill, which removes all gender references from marriage applications, was approved in the National Assembly on Feb. 2, opponents added more than 5,000 amendments in order to slow down the legislation‘s passage. Final approval of the whole bill occurred on Feb. 12 with a vote of 329 to 229, the CBC reported.
Read More…
More on Gay Marriage
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Aide: Pakistan's Musharraf can run for parliament
A close aide to Pakistan‘s former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf says elections officials have approved his candidacy for parliament in a remote northern district after it was rejected in two other parts of the country.
Rashid Qureshi said officials in Chitral near the Afghan border accepted Musharraf’s nomination papers on Sunday.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 but was forced to step down nearly a decade later. He returned to Pakistan from exile last month to run for the National Assembly in May 11 elections.
Two other applications for southern and central Pakistani districts were rejected while a third in Islamabad is pending. Opponents have filed objections on based on actions he took while ruling Pakistan.
Chitral officials could not be reached for comment.
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Ballot Bromides
By Maha Atal, Contributor When Pakistan‘s 13th National Assembly closed up shop Mar. 14, members gave themselves a round of applause. They delivered farewell speeches thanking their supporters and gathered for photos outside Parliament House. Pakistan‘s politicians could hardly believe their luck. For the first time in the country’s history an elected government had served out its full term. Assuming new elections are carried out peacefully in May, the country will have completed its first democratic transfer of power. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
France mulls law to let strikers ransack offices
With its long vacations, short hours and myriad workers’ rights, France has a reputation for being a hard place to do business. Now add this to the mix: A law working its way through parliament would grant amnesty to workers who have ransacked their company’s offices or threatened their bosses during a labor dispute.
Tensions — and even confrontation — between unions and management have long been the norm in France. Strikes and protests have periodically paralyzed the country. The country saw a raft of “boss-nappings” in 2009 as companies tried to lay off staff during the first wave of the financial crisis. In 2010, workers opposed to raising the retirement age shut down refineries for weeks, choking transport around France.
The new bill, which was written by senators from the Communist and other far left parties, has sparked debate about whether the country, under the leadership of Socialist President Francois Hollande, is becoming more hostile to business.
“Business leaders who have been hearing about this … whatever the size of their business, are dumbfounded,” Laurence Parisot, the head of the country’s largest business lobby, Medef, told Europe 1 radio after the Senate passed the bill in late February. In the next few weeks, the bill will be taken up by parliament’s lower house, the National Assembly, where parties on the left have a substantial majority.
The amnesty would apply to people who caused property damage, issued threats or defamed management during a labor or housing dispute over the last six years, and were sentenced to five years in prison or less. Acts that caused physical harm to someone else would not be covered. It’s unclear how many people would benefit, but French media reported it could be as few as several dozen.
Nonetheless, it sends a worrying signal. As France‘s neighbors try to get people back to work by enacting deep reforms to make their labor markets more competitive, some economists warn that Europe‘s second-largest economy risks getting left behind.
Spain and Italy have already made their labor markets more flexible and cut through excessive regulation to kick start their economies and recover from Europe‘s financial crisis.
The fear is that as they start to reap the benefits of their reforms, Spain and Italy could attract business away from France. And France can’t afford to lose any business: The unemployment rate is already 10.6 percent and the country is on the brink of falling back …read more
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Employees: Last anti-Chavez TV station to be sold
Employees of the last remaining opposition television channel in Venezuela say it is being sold to a businessman friendly to the government.
They say Globovision’s editorial line is sure to change, and many sobbed Monday when informed of the sale, certain some would lose their jobs.
The employees said the sale would occur after April 14 elections, which Hugo Chavez‘s hand-picked successor is favored to win.
One employee present at a meeting convened by Globovision President Guillermo Zuluaga quoted him as saying the buyer is Juan Domingo Cordero, president of the insurance company La Vitalicia.
The employee says Cordero is friendly with officials such as National Assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello.
The employee spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job.
Company officials declined to comment when contacted.
All eyes on Capriles as Venezuela election set
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles must make what could be the most important decision of his political life, now that Venezuela‘s elections commission has called an April 14 vote to pick a successor to the late Hugo Chavez.
The 40-year-old state governor is expected to announce on Sunday whether he will run against Chavez’s hand-picked successor, who’s a heavy favorite amid lingering sympathy for the charismatic president.
The stakes are high: A defeat for Capriles just six months after he lost the presidential vote to Chavez would likely finish his political career. If he waits, a Chavista government might prove inept and give him a better shot in a later election.
On a personal Twitter page that bore all the rah-rah adornments of a campaign site, Capriles wrote Saturday afternoon: “I am analyzing the declaration of the (electoral commission setting the date) and in the next hours I will talk to the country about my decision.”
Whoever the opposition runs, analysts say the election is the government‘s to lose. They also predict the next five weeks will up the nasty, heated rhetoric that began even before Chavez’s death Tuesday after a nearly two-year fight with cancer.
Nicolas Maduro, who was named Chavez’s vice president after the October election, was sworn in as this oil-rich country’s acting leader Friday night and is expected to be the ruling party candidate. Opposition critics have called Maduro’s ascension unconstitutional, noting the charter designates the National Assembly president as acting leader if a president-elect cannot be sworn in.
Angel Alvarez, a political science professor at the Central University of Venezuela, said Capriles is well aware that “the dice are loaded in favor of the government‘s candidate.”
That means sitting out the race would make sense for Capriles, said David Smilde, an analyst with the U.S.-based think tank the Washington Office on Latin America.
“If he says he doesn’t want to run I could totally understand that,” Smilde said. “He is likely going to lose and if he loses this election he’s probably going to be done.”
If Capriles stays out, the opposition would be wise to run fresher faces such as Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledesma or Henry Falcone, governor of Lara state and one of just three opposition governors.
Maduro leans on Chavez's charisma for popularity
Nicolas Maduro so far has led by imitation, seeking to fill the shoes of a president whose uncanny vigor, mischievous humor and political wiles sowed a revolution and transformed a nation.
As Hugo Chavez did during his 14-year presidency, Maduro has stoked confrontation, and shed tears.
While steering Venezuela through the trauma of Chavez’s death, Maduro has pinned his move to the top on his beloved predecessor.
Yet there are serious doubts, even among die-hard Chavistas, about his ability to lead the nation.
At his swearing-in Friday evening as acting president in the National Assembly chamber where less than a decade ago he was just another lawmaker, Maduro pledged his “most absolute loyalty” to Chavez.
Then he launched into another fiery, lionization-of-the-masses speech punctuated by tears, Chavez-style harangues and attacks on capitalist elites and the international press.
“This sash belongs to Hugo Chavez,” he said, choked up, after assembly speaker Diosdado Cabello slid the presidential band over his head. Hours earlier at Chavez’s funeral, Maduro delivered a speech similarly strident in content and tone.
Maduro, 50, hasn’t stopped idolizing the outsized leader who made him Venezuela‘s foreign minister, then vice president and, before going to Cuba for a final cancer surgery in December, publicly selected him as the presidential successor.
The National Electoral Council is expected on Saturday to set a date for a special presidential election as early as April.
Filling the leadership void since Chavez disappeared from public view after his surgery, Maduro has verbally sowed conflict and polarization. But many Venezuelans find him bland and uninspiring. Some blame his lack of education, noting the former bus driver never went to college.
Others say it goes much further. After all, Brazil‘s hugely popular former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, also started out as a union leader.
“Nicolas Maduro does not embody Chavismo. He’s not in touch with the people,” said Carlos Borrola, a 57-year-old member of a “colectivo,” a radical pro-Chavez citizen’s militia.
“You can try to imitate the aggressivity of speech. You can try to imitate the conjuring of imaginary …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Nicolas Maduro sworn in as Venezuelan president
Nicolas Maduro was sworn in Friday as Venezuela’s acting president, using the occasion to make blistering attacks on the U.S. as well as the political opposition, which objected that the ceremony violated the country’s constitution.
Late President Hugo Chavez designated Maduro as his successor before he died Tuesday of cancer. Maduro had been Chavez’s vice president.
The country’s 1999 constitution says the National Assembly speaker becomes interim president in the event of a president-elect’s death or inability to be sworn in. The constitution also says a presidential election should be called within 30 days.
Maduro has been picked as the presidential candidate of Chavez’s socialist party.
Opposition leader Angel Medina said earlier Friday that the opposition would boycott the swearing-in ceremony. Former U.S. presidential candidate, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, attended the ceremony as did Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.
Stray fireworks exploded above the capital of Caracas as soon as Maduro was sworn in as president.
Both Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello pledged to follow Chavez’s example and push his socialist-inspired agenda.
“I swear by the most absolute loyalty to comrade Hugo Chavez that we will fulfill and see that it’s fulfilled the constitution … with the iron fist of a people ready to be free,” Maduro said.
He also echoed accusations he made shortly before Chavez’s death that the U.S. had caused the fatal cancer. On Friday night, he referred to “this illness very strange for the speed of its growth and for other scientific reasons that will be known in their moment.”
He later touched on Chavez’s penchant for slamming “the empire,” his term for the United States.
“We tell them: Sooner than later, the imperialist elites who govern the United States will have to learn to live with absolute respect with the insurrectional people of the … Latin and Caribbean America,” he said.
He later named Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza, Chavez’s son-in-law, as his vice president. Arreaza had frequently been at the side of the dying president in his final weeks, sometimes providing updates about his health.
Shortly before the swearing-in, opposition leader Henrique Capriles said Maduro had used Chavez’s funeral earlier in the day to campaign for the presidency. Capriles is widely expected to run against Maduro in the coming vote.