Chavez bloc begins work unopposed

[ed316]

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Chavez bloc begins work unopposed
By Greg Morsbach
BBC News, Caracas


Venezuela's national assembly is sitting for the first time since the opposition boycotted parliamentary elections in December.
All 167 seats are taken up by Bloc for Change politicians, who are loyal to the left-wing President, Hugo Chavez.
It is the first time in almost 50 years that Venezuela's national assembly has had no opposition members.
Critics say the new assembly is similar to the one in Cuba as it is unlikely to ask awkward questions of the president.
Lively debate
For the next five years Mr Chavez's legislators will be able to pass new laws quickly and without too much fuss in order to drive forward the revolution the president has advocated.
Critics say the assembly is likely to vote in favour of changing the constitution to allow Mr Chavez to stand in presidential elections as many times as he wishes.
But some of the newly-elected assembly members have told the BBC that this is not an issue for the immediate future. They say they intend to generate lively debate inside the chamber in order to carry out much needed social reforms, such as the legalisation of gay marriages and the creation of a more flexible abortion law.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4585516.stm

Published: 2006/01/05 17:46:11 GMT

© BBC MMVI


Only about 25% of registered voters cast a ballot for this election.

[fremen]

The good thing about Chavez' party having total control of the Venezuelan Assembly is that if he really fvcks up, he will have absolutely no one to blame but himself. It would leave the opposition in a position to make a very strong comeback. That is, if it remains possible to have clean elections in the future. I think that making the decision not to take part in the election was smart for the oposition. They saw that they would not be able to beat Chavez this time (otherwise they would have participated) and therefore left him in a position where he can be blamed for all of the country's ills.

[askDNA]

i´ll post some good`pics of the country when i get back

[Ezekiel25:17]

Only 25% voted that's a damn shame. I agree Fremen, if it's fvck he is the only one to blame.

[fremen]

Only 25% voted that's a damn shame. I agree Fremen, if it's fvck he is the only one to blame.

Not surprising that only 25% voted, I mean who would want to vote if there were only one candidate running for each district (or whatever they call them in Venezuela). I mean, since there was no opposition.

[Rictor]

I also heard that a number of Chavez supporters, those who voted for him in all previous elects, withheld their votes because a) it was a foregone conclusion and b)they aren't entirely happy with how Chavez is doing some things, so as a show of force.

But yeah, it would have been better with a higher turnout. Though I remember reading that turnouts generally aren't much better in Western countries under similar conditions, given that it was only a parlimentary election and not a presidential one.