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Groton Daily Independent
Monday, July 31, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 031 ~ 38 of 42
sembly to install an autocratic regime. Maduro’s mentor, the late President Hugo Chavez, similarly called for a constitution rewrite shortly after taking of ce in 1999, but unlike Maduro he held a referendum rst to get Venezu- elans’ blessing. Even some “Chavistas” have rejected the drive to change the constitution, which has further polar- ized an already deeply divided country.
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HOW WILL DELEGATES BE CHOSEN? Venezuela’s government-stacked
National Electoral Council created an unorthodox voting system that op- ponents say heavily favors the ruling party.
A total of 364 delegates will be selectedaccordingtogeography:In eachofVenezuela’s23states,one delegatewillbeallottedpermunicipal- ity while state capitals get two.
But some of the most populated states have relatively few munici- palities, while some smaller ones havemany.Thatmeansastatelike Miranda,populationnearly3million, will get four fewer delegates than Falcon, which is home to about 1 mil- lion people.
A supporter of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro holds adollofthelatePresidentHugoChavezholdingasignthat readsinSpanish“ConstituentAssembly,Yesit’sgoing”dur- ingapoliticalrallywithVenezuela’sPresidentNicolasMadu- ro, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, July 27, 2017. President Maduro has provoked international outcry and enraged an opposition demanding his resignation with his push to elect an assembly that will rewrite the troubled South American nation’sconstitution.Sunday’selectionwillcapnearlyfour monthsofpoliticalupheavalthathasleftthousandsdetained and injured and at least 100 dead. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Critics say that unfairly favors rural areas where Maduro is more popular over opposition-friendly cities such as Caracas, the capital.
An additional 173 delegates will come from various categories of social groups including laborers, stu- dents, farmers and shermen. Eight slots are reserved for indigenous communities. How the government determined who quali es in each category has not been disclosed, but all of those sectors traditionally have strong ties to Chavez and Maduro’s leftist political movement.
The opposition is boycotting the election, so the majority of candidates represent the ruling socialist party. ___
WHAT CHANGES HAS THE GOVERNMENT VOWED TO MAKE?
Maduro has talked about the constituent assembly only in fuzzy terms, characterizing it as a lofty solution
for Venezuela’s long list of political and economic woes. But some of his closest associates have provided a hint at what might come.
On Wednesday, rst lady Cilia Flores, who Maduro calls Venezuela’s “First Combatant,” said the assem- bly will create a peace and justice commission that will ensure those responsible for the current political upheaval “pay and learn their lesson.”
Diosdado Cabello, rst vice president of Venezuela’s socialist party, says the assembly will strip legisla- tors in the opposition-controlled National Assembly of their immunity from prosecution. He adds that the of ce of Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, who has recently become one of Maduro’s most outspoken critics, will be “turned upside down.”