The process will be submitted to a referendum in 2025, on a date yet to be defined
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro (United Socialist Party of Venezuela, left), stated on Wednesday (15 January 2025) that a commission would be created to carry out a reform of the current Constitution, under the justification of “expand democracy” e “build a new State”. Maduro also said that the Armed Forces should not “let your guard down”.
“I am the guarantee of the very existence of the Republic, I do not exaggerate even one millimeter”, declared Maduro. Five days after becoming president of the country, the Venezuelan leader presented the balance of his government to Parliament. Maduro’s victory in the elections was contested by the opposition and by the United States, the European Union and several Latin Americans, who claim that Edmundo González (Democratic Unitary Platform, center-right) was the winner of the dispute.
“The objective of the Constitutional Reform is to clearly define the Venezuelan development model for the next 30 years, and to democratize Venezuela’s political and social life to infinity. Transform this State into a truly democratic one of and for the people, which achieves harmony and unification of Venezuela around a common project, of consensus”, explained Maduro during the presidential inauguration.
The commission’s president will be the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, who participated in the creation of the 1999 Constitution. A secretariat will have Maduro’s vice president and wife, Cilia Flores, as its member.
Maduro did not detail what changes would be made to the country’s constitution, which was promoted by the late leader Hugo Chávez in 1999. The president stated that he will seek “the construction of the new State, clearly defining the profile of the society we want from a cultural point of view, from an institutional point of view”.
“A great and powerful reform of the Constitution to expand democracy, define the profile of society”, he added. “And lay the clearest foundations (…) of a new self-sustainable, non-dependent, diversified economy”added Maduro. The reform must be submitted to a referendum in 2025. Changes to the Constitution must also go through a package of laws.
