Solicitor General: President Chávez is in office

Venezuelan Solicitor General Cilia Flores said on Sunday that President Hugo Chávez is a reelected president, rather than a president-elect, which makes a "big difference in understanding and construing Article 231 of the Constitution," which refers to the inauguration of the Head of State on January 10 of the first year of his constitutional term.

Such article reads as follows: "The candidate elected shall take office as President of the Republic on January 10 of the first year of his constitutional term, by taking an oath before  the National Assembly. If for any supervening reason, the person elected President of the Republic cannot be sworn in before the National Assembly, he shall take the oath of office before the Supreme Tribunal of Justice."

In this context, Flores said in an interview with multi-state television network Telesur that the operation for cancer that was performed on President Chávez in Havana, Cuba, on December 11, is considered a supervening reason, state-run news agency AVN quoted.

"Chavez underwent surgery and is now in the post-operative stage; he is recovering (...) This is a supervened situation, force majeure, and he has to do it (take his oath of office) later, before the Supreme Tribunal of Justice," she explained.