Venezuela to amend constitution

VENEZUELA: The Venezuelan Parliament began a process to grant the country's president unlimited reelection, backing a bid by President Hugo Chavez to rule through 2021.

Chavez said last month he was directing his ruling United Socialist party (PSUV) to seek a constitutional amendment to reelect the president, saying he was ready to govern through 2021.

The National Assembly must give the proposed amendment two readings before it can be brought to a referendum.

"The presidential term is six years. The president can be re-elected," the text of the amendment would read, according to the parliament's president, Cilia Flores. The proposed amendment would only affect Article 230 of the Constitution, which currently reads: "The presidential term is six years. The president of the Republic may be re-elected, immediately and only once, for an additional period."

Chavez, who came to power in 1999, was reelected president of Venezuela in December 2006, for a term expiring in 2013.

Lawmakers hailed the amendment, singing "Uh, ah, Chavez is not going!"

Two debates will take place at the PSUV-majority National Assembly one on December 18, followed by another in January, parliamentary sources indicated.

The National Electoral Council would then convene a referendum within 30 days, Flores said.

"Our political position and that of most of the people is that (Chavez) should remain at the forefront of the transformation taking place in this country," said parliamentarian Earle Herrera, who will formally present the text. Three anti-Chavez lawmakers said the proposal did not comply with parliamentary rules because they were not allowed to talk about it.

A constitutional amendment can be requested by 30 percent of national assembly deputies, by 15 percent of eligible voters (more than 2.5 million people) or by the president of the Council of Ministers.

The PSUV said it would also collect signatures to give symbolic support to the proposal, at the request of the National Assembly.

In December 2007, a referendum that sought to declare Venezuela a socialist state and allow unlimited reelection did not prevail, and dealt Chavez his first major defeat at the ballot box.

The Venezuelan opposition has been critical of re-submitting the question to a referendum.

CARACAS, Wednesday, AFP