Image provided by the Presidency of Venezuela shows the President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello (front R), swears in Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro (front L) as acting president, in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, on March 8, 2013. Nicolas Maduro has been sworn in by the National Assembly as Venezuela's acting president, after the State funeral of the late president Hugo Chavez. (Xinhua/Presidency of Venezuela)
CARACAS, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro was officially sworn in on Friday as the country's acting president, following the death of President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday.
Maduro took the oath of office at a special session of the National Assembly attended by national deputies, government officials and international guests.
"I swear in the name of our children, workers, soldiers and farmers in the country, and I swear in the name of absolute loyalty to commander Hugo Chavez. We will enforce the Bolivarian Constitution. I swear," he said.
Afterwards, National Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello conferred the presidential band and necklace of Simon Bolivar, the symbol of the presidency, to Maduro. The participants sang the national anthem and offered him congratulations.
"Pardon our sorrow and our tears, but this band belongs to Hugo Chavez, the presidency corresponds to Hugo Chavez," Maduro said, sobbing.
He said he would appoint Jorge Arreaza, a former science and technology minister, as the new vice president.
Maduro added that he had asked Tibisay Lucena, president of the National Electoral Council, to immediately prepare for presidential elections in line with Venezuelan law.
"Officially I asked her to comply with all legal and constitutional ends of the country and the mandate of Article 233, to immediately convene elections for the people of Venezuela so that they will know who will be the president of the republic, in a democratic way," he said.
Maduro urged the electoral authorities to conduct appropriate assessments and decide on the date of the elections.
"We are ready to go to elections without fear. We feel confident of Venezuelan democracy. Whoever deserves to win will win, decided by the people," he said.
He said he assumed the presidency "to protect the people, and to defend socialism and take forward and enforce its legacy."
"I'm not here for personal ambition. I'm here to enforce the order of Hugo Chavez," Maduro said.
The acting president arrived only minutes earlier before the ceremony, accompanied by government ministers, amid supporters' chants.
Cabello said swearing in a president in charge after the death of Chavez is "mandatory and is constitutional," refuting opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who condemned the Supreme Court's ruling to allow Maduro to be sworn in as acting president and run for president without leaving his office as a constitutional fraud.
Capriles lost to Chavez in last year's presidential election.
"While the country is mourning, the Supreme Court issues a judgment with political content, constitutional fraud, and I think it is important that the world knows these abuses," Capriles told a press conference.
But the court argued that its verdict was made based on Article 233 of the Constitution, saying "The executive vice president becomes acting president and ceases his previous post."
"The electoral organization can admit the acting president to participate in the presidential election," the verdict added. "During the electoral process of electing the president, the acting president is not obliged to withdraw from the post."
Capriles refuted the ruling by evoking Article 57 of the Electoral Process Law, which stipulates only candidates running for offices they are holding do not have to leave their posts.
After calling a new election and setting a date for application, the vice president should leave his post and register as a full-time presidential candidate, he said.
He also urged the court to respect the will of the people, saying only the people have the right to decide who will be the president.
CARACAS, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) ruled Friday that Vice President Nicolas Maduro could participate in the coming presidential elections.
The Constitutional Chamber of TSJ also ruled that Maduro will be officially sworn in at the National Assembly as Acting President of Venezuela on Friday night, following the death on Tuesday of the late president Hugo Chavez. Full story
CARACAS, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's Supreme Court Friday ratified that Nicolas Maduro can swear in as "acting president" and also be presidential candidate in the elections which have to be held within 30 days after the absolute absence of the President, as stipulated in the Constitution.
Since last October, Maduro held the Vice President post, and after the death of President Chavez last Tuesday, he can assume the President post, due to the Supreme Court's verdict, based in the interpretation of article 233 of the Venezuelan Constitution. Full story
CARACAS, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan vice-president Nicolas Maduro signed Tuesday a decree ordering a seven-day national mourning for late President Hugo Chavez in his capacity as the country's acting president.
The decree, dated March 5, 2013, was published with Maduro's signature as "acting president" by the Official Gazette. It orders national mourning for the "regretful and painful death and irreparable loss of the hero of the fatherland Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias." Full story
CARACAS, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died of cancer Tuesday in a military hospital in Caracas, bringing uncertainty to the South American country.
The following are three questions and answers about Venezuela after Chavez's death. Full story
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