Chavez to keep his presidency beyond Jan 10

CARACAS - The just re-elected president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, in his address after his confirmation, said Saturday that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "will still be the President beyond January 10th", despite of his precarious health.

Cabello, who was re-elected as President of the National Assembly thanks to the votes of his majority Socialist United Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said Chavez does not need to take another oath in front of the Parliament to become President, since he was re-elected.

A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez holds up a picture of him during the inauguration of the National Assembly in Caracas Jan 5, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

In line with the Article 231 of the National Venezuelan Constitution, the president, elected by the popular vote of the Venezuelans, must be established in his post rendering an oath in front of the National Assembly on Jan 10 on his first year on the job.

But since Chavez is ill and there are only five days for him to recover and take the oath anew, it seems practically impossible that Chavez returns on time to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, from Cuba, where he is recovering after having a fourth cancer surgery.

Just on Jan 3, the Venezuelan government revealed that the head of the State has a respiratory ailment due to a "severe" pulmonary infection, which means that Chavez needs a respirator to breathe.

The government has said that since Chavez was re-elected, and there are no changes to the man that will lead the nation, the oath ceremony becomes simply "a formalism".

"Commandant Chavez has a license that was conceded by the National Assembly so he could be out of the country and we are going to make it valid", said Cabello.

The National Assembly granted Chavez on Dec 9 an indefinite license to be absent so he could go to Cuba to have his fourth cancer surgery, and to have the time that his doctors deemed to be necessary for his recovery.