VP Nicolás Maduro: Chávez's swearing-in can be adjourned

Venezuelan Executive Vice-President Nicolás Maduro late on Friday said that there are no grounds to declare the complete absence of President Hugo Chavez if he fails to appear next January 10 at the National Assembly for his swearing-in for a new term in office.

"None of the conditions set out in Article 233 applies right now. There is no complete absence," Maduro said in an interview with state-run television network Venezolana de Television (VTV).

Maduro said Chávez's new term in office will start on January 10 and if he cannot be sworn in before the National Assembly on that date, he can be sworn in before the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) later.

"The Constitution provides that he (Chávez) (...) has to be sworn in before the National Assembly on January 10, but precisely on January 10 the new constitutional term begins and he continues in office. The moment when he will be able to take an oath before the Supreme Tribunal of Justice will be established later," added Maduro.

According to the vice-president, Article 231 of the Constitution provides for "a dynamic flexibility."

Maduro reiterated that Venezuelan people have a responsibility to advocate the ideas and principles enshrined in the Constitution.

"The path of our fatherland was set by our people in the Constitution of 1999," he said in an interview with journalist and Minister of Communication and Information Ernesto Villegas.

He said the right-wing parties intend to use President Hugo Chavez's health problems in order to misconstrue the Constitution.