MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Decisive week for Venezuela and President

The Venezuelan Supreme Court is debating whether President Hugo Chavez could stand for election if his current term of office is cut short by an eventual recall referendum, the tribunal's chief said Wednesday

"That's a question we're discussing, but there is no ruling" as of yet, Chief Justice Ivan Rincon told reporters in Caracas, but did not advance when a ruling might be made.

The strong Venezuelan opposition is assuming that President Chavez would be barred from running in early presidential elections in the event he loses a possible recall referendum against him, but the president's supporters say that matter must still be solved by the courts.

Early in the day vice-president Jose Vicente Rangel admitted that the opposition could have obtained the necessary number of signatures for ensuring a recall referendum of President Chavez term.

"If election authorities call a referendum, it will not only accept it but make use of the opportunity to inflict a fresh landslide defeat on the opposition". "We respect the rules of democracy and if there is a referendum, we'll beat them, but if the arbitrator (electoral authorities) says there will be no referendum because not enough signatures were collected, we will uphold that ruling with the full weight of the law" warned Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel.

"We will not accept any more cheating on the opposition's part," he added. Referring to what Chavez calls his "Bolivarian Revolution," Mr. Rangel said "this massive popular movement is not going to be defeated. We are at the moment of truth".

The National Electoral Council, CNE, is expected to announce this week whether the opposition managed to collect the 2,4 million signatures needed for a recall referendum.

If at least half the 1,2 million signatures which the CNE deemed "questionable" and still have to be checked are confirmed legitimate, the referendum will be held next August 8.

If, however, the CNE rules the opposition failed to collect enough signatures, President Chavez's opponents will have to wait until December 2006 to try to vote him out.

However Mr. Rangel's conciliatory message also included a strong warning, "we know very well that the opposition is naturally undemocratic and favor coup d'état, and will never accept defeat".

But the opposition Democratic Coordination also pointed out that the signature ratification process has had a strong impact among President Chavez followers who are split "among those willing to accept the result and those not willing to do so". "We're on the democratic trail, the future belongs to us, we've reached our target", said Deputy Alejandro Armas, spokesperson for the opposition. "We're calling the people to the streets next Saturday to celebrate the signature ratification process, and hopefully the final CNE recall referendum announcement".