Referendum to be held after drafting constitution: Maduro

Caracas June 2 (IANS) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that once the drafting process is over he will propose that a referendum be held to approve the new constitution.

At the end of the process I am sure I will propose openly expressly and exhaustively that the new constitution will go to consultative referendum so that the people will decide whether they agree with the new constitution or not Maduro said on Thursday during a Council of Ministers meeting.

The President made the remarks hours after the Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega asked the Supreme Tribunal of Justice for clarification regarding the ruling in which Maduro is given freedom to convene a new super-body known as the Constituent Assembly to write the constitution without previously calling a referendum Efe news reported.

Maduro insisted that the Supreme Tribunal of Justice has issued a clear unequivocal conclusive ruling that the convening of the National Constituent Assembly is constitutional and legal.

He called on the Venezuelan people to give their support to candidates registering for the assembly saying that once this period of administration is completed and the election commission sets a date for a vote an exemplary electoral campaign for members will begin.

He added that he has already presented nine priorities for the Constituent Assembly to discuss.

The first of all is peace. Second is the new post-oil productive economic model and third is the constitutionalization of all social missions he said.

In fourth place he said is the issue of security to end impunity and structural transformation the transformation of the legal and institutional system while in fifth is the assurance of sovereignty and its territorial integration.

Maduro announced the vote on the Constituent Assembly on May 1 in an effort to defuse the crisis that the country has been facing for two months amid opposition protests several of which have turned violent leaving 61 dead.

Pro-government groups have responded by mobilizing to support the Maduro government and to reject foreign interference in the country s affairs.

--IANS
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