Politics
If President Hugo Chávez loses a referendum next February 15, he has no legal impediments to convene again a referendum to amend Article 230 of the Venezuelan Constitution in order to run again as candidate and be reelected indefinitely as president.

This is the major conclusion drawn by Justice Francisco Carrasquero -former chair of the National Electoral Council (CNE)- in his construction of Articles 340, 342 and 345 of the Constitution, a question that was raised by Fundación Verdad Venezuela, a Venezuelan NGO. Carrasquero's decision was upheld by most Justices of the Constitutional Court, Supreme Tribunal of Justice.  

According to the paper submitted by Carrasquero, the prohibition referred to in Article 345 of the Constitution only refers to the initiatives seeking a constitutional reform, rather than amendments. Based on Article 345, the content of failed reform cannot be voted again during the same presidential term. However, such prohibition does not apply for constitutional amendments. The petitioners had claimed that the subject matter of the amendment proposed by President Chávez was already rejected in a constitutional referendum held on December 2, 2007 intended to reform the Constitution and establish endless presidential reelection.
 
The Constitutional Court also agreed that "the subject matter of a failed proposal of constitutional reform or a part thereof can be raised again in a proposal of constitutional amendment." In other words, the Constitutional Court found that, based on such principle, a proposal of constitutional amendment whose content is identical to that of a proposed constitutional reform that has been rejected by voters is not to be rendered null and void.

Therefore, the Constitutional Court shares the view President Chávez disclosed only 24 hours before issuance of Carrasquero's ruling, under which citizens may seek an amendment to the constitution every year. The Constitutional Court, however, ratified that a new reform to the Constitution, such as the one attempted in 2007, will have to wait until the end of the current term of the National Assembly, in December 2010.

All the members of the Constitutional Court endorsed Carrasquero's ruling, with the exception of Justice Pedro Rondón Haaz, who cast a dissenting vote, arguing, among other things, that reelection "without any time limit opposes to the alternative nature that has and will always have the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the political entities comprising it, in accordance with Article 6 of the Constitution."

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas

Eugenio G. Martínez
EL UNIVERSAL