Uncertainty in Venezuela
The presidential swearing-in ceremony is not a formality
President Hugo Chávez was re-elected emphatically. Therefore, Venezuelans have the right to demand he continues as head of state for one more term.
What is reasonable is for him to be sworn in on the date specified in the Constitution; if he cannot do it because he is not fit, the speaker of the National Assembly will be in charge temporarily. That is not a constitutional crisis or a power vacuum, but rather the implementation of democratic resources created for this type of situations.
The president’s serious illness is putting to the test the most basic parts of Venezuela’s democratic system.
The apparent difficulties Chávez is having in taking the oath of office tomorrow for a new term have given way to ridiculous expressions like “administrative continuity” and the assertion that the swearing-in of a head of state is no more than a “formality.” All of that to diminish the importance of something extraordinarylike a president-elect being incapacitated when he is supposed to take office.
We are not asking what would have happened if opposition candidate Henrique Capriles would have been the winner and the one who is incapacitated. What would have happened to the principle of “administrative continuity”? In that case, being sworn in would definitely not be just a formality.
Is it perhaps that Venezuela’s Constitution establishes different processes and values between a president’s re-election and a new president? That is not how democracy works; it should be equal for everyone for something as basic as this.
The one responsible for all this confusion is the Venezuelan government itself. By not providing information about Chávez’s illness and its development, it opened the door to speculation and the unusual uncertainty of not knowingwith only two days to gowhat will happen on January 10, inauguration day. Instead, official TV ads are being repeated over and over with a Chávez who is the picture of health.
In this first test for Chavismo without Chávez, the indefinite postponement of the swearing-in for the next presidential term clouds the clarity that democracy demands.
