Venezuela ruling party VP proposes early congress election

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The vice president of Venezuela's ruling Socialist Party on Tuesday proposed holding an early congressional election alongside the April 22 presidential vote, a move that could shorten the tenure of the currently opposition-run legislature.

Venezuela's opposition won control of the National Assembly in a 2015 landslide vote that was their biggest electoral victory in nearly two decades of socialist government.

But President Nicolas Maduro and the pro-government judiciary rendered the congress toothless by striking down all its measures. Authorities held a controversial vote to set up instead a new all-powerful superbody Constituent Assembly, which a raft of foreign nations have refused to recognize.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters during a rally in Caracas on August 8, 2015. /VCG Photo

Socialist Party No. 2 Diosdado Cabello, a hardline stalwart of Maduro's government, told state TV that a new National Assembly vote was needed "in the national interest" because the opposition-run body was idle.

"Our country needs to take decisions. If it wasn't for the Constituent Assembly, the country would be paralyzed," he said.

In the past, Cabello's proposals have quickly gone to the entirely pro-government Constituent Assembly for rubber-stamping.

People queued outside a bank in Caracas in an attempt to deposit money, on Dec. 13, 2016. /VCG Photo‍

Critics have blasted Cabello's proposal to bring forward the next congressional vote, which had been due in 2020. They viewed it as a further attempt to crush opposition.

Opposition leaders are already expected to boycott the April presidential poll, because they believe it is rigged to ensure Maduro's re-election despite his unpopularity and a crushing national economic crisis.

The opposition's most popular leader including Leopoldo Lopez are banned from standing.

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Source(s): Reuters