Elections are scheduled for October 2018.
Venezuela crisis: What is behind the turmoil?, BBC, 5/4/17
Tension in Venezuela is on the rise
again as the opposition and the government accuse each other of trying to stage
a coup. There has been a wave of anti-government protests and dozens of
people have been killed in protest-related violence since April
Here, we look more in depth at the problems facing Venezuela and
its president, Nicolas Maduro. Why is Venezuela so
divided? Venezuela is split into Chavistas, the name given to the
followers of the socialist policies of the late President Hugo Chavez, and
those who cannot wait to see an end to the 18 years in power of his United
Socialist Party (PSUV).
After the socialist leader died in 2013, Nicolas Maduro, also of
the PSUV, was elected president on a promise to continue Mr Chavez's policies.
Chavistas praise the two men for using Venezuela's oil riches to
markedly reduce inequality and for lifting many Venezuelans out of poverty.
But the opposition says that since the PSUV came to power in
1999, the socialist party has eroded Venezuela's democratic institutions and
mismanaged its economy.
Chavistas in turn accuse the opposition of being elitist and of
exploiting poor Venezuelans to increase their own riches. They also allege that opposition leaders are in the pay of the
United States, a country with which Venezuela has had fraught relations in
recent years.
Why has Mr Maduro's
popularity plummeted? Mr Maduro has not been
able to inspire Chavistas in the same way his predecessor did. His government
has furthermore been hampered by falling oil prices.
Oil accounts for about 95% of Venezuela's export revenues and
was used to finance some of the government's generous social programs which,
according to official figures, have provided more than one million poor
Venezuelans with homes.
The lack of oil revenue has forced the government to curtail its
social programs, leading to an erosion of support among its core backers.
If the divisions are
old, what has triggered this latest flare-up? A series of events has further heightened tensions between the
government and the opposition and led to renewed street protests.
Key was the surprise announcement by the Supreme Court on 29 March that it was taking over the powers of
the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
The opposition said that the ruling undermined the country's
separation of powers and took Venezuela a step closer to one-man rule under
President Nicolas Maduro.
The court argued that the National Assembly had disregarded
previous Supreme Court rulings and was therefore in contempt. While the Supreme Court reversed its ruling just three days later, distrust of the
court did not subside.
What does the
opposition want? They have four key demands:
§ Removal from office of the Supreme Court
justices who issued the 29 March ruling
§ General elections in 2017
§ Creation of a "humanitarian channel"
to allow medication to be imported to counter the severe shortages in Venezuela
§ Release of all the "political
prisoners"
Why is there talk of
a constituent assembly? Faced with almost
daily protests, President Maduro probably felt he needed to make a move.
Not willing to give in to the opposition's demand for early
presidential elections, he chose to announce the creation of a constituent
assembly.
President Maduro says the opposition is trying to illegally
overthrow his elected government and blames the country's problems on an
"economic war" being waged against him. He argues that a new constitution will "neutralize"
the opposition and defeat "coup-plotters" and thereby promote peace
in Venezuela.
Opposition leaders have denounced the move as an attempt by
President Maduro to maximize his power and cling on to it for longer.
They argue that the process of setting up a constituent assembly
and drawing up a new constitution would almost certainly mean that regional
elections due to be held this year and presidential polls scheduled for
December 2018 would be delayed.
They also fear that the constituent assembly would further
weaken the National Assembly, Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislative
body.
National Assembly leader Julio Borges called it "a scam to
deceive the Venezuelan people with a mechanism that is nothing more than a
tightening of the coup in Venezuela".
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