As expected, Hugo Chávez certainly won’t take the results of last Sunday’s election as a defeat. IBD explains,
Don’t Rule Out Chavez Chicanery
Venezuela’s opposition made big gains in legislative elections on Sunday. But while it appears to be a victory for democracy, Hugo Chavez always finds a way to ensure it won’t be meaningful for anyone but himself.
One of the means is a lame-duck legislative session: Caracas Gringo posts on communal laws:
President Hugo Chavez wants his new communal governance and communal economic institutions in place legally before the new National Assembly is installed on 5 January 2011.
Once the communal laws still awaiting approval are enacted by the current assembly, there isn’t much that the new assembly can do about it.
Chavez may not have his 2/3 + 1 “qualified majority” that allows him to do anything he wishes. But the opposition doesn’t have sufficient votes in the new assembly that sessions as of 5 January 2011 to roll back any laws approved by the current assembly during the coming 100 days.
…
…if 100% of the regime’s new federal/communal structure is firmly in place legally before end-2010, Chavez may decide to ignore the new assembly, or perhaps fiscally strangle the opposition’s districts, or order his AG and his Sebin (formerly Disip) political cops to persecute select opposition figures.
Expect more to come.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the opposition is seeking greater transparency on oil revenues. (link in Spanish)
