2023-04-28 21:48:58
The Communes Commission of the National Assembly (AN) with a majority of Chavismo approved in the second discussion the Organic Law of Communal Councils, which contemplates increasing from 2 to 4 years the management of the spokespersons who are elected by the communities and simplifies the procedures for their constitution.
The president of the parliamentary body, deputy of 2020 Blanca Eekhout (psuv), reported that the bill with the agreed amendments went from 61 to 33 articles following the public consultation period. Now it will be elevated to the plenary of the AN for its discussion, article by articleand subsequent sanction.
In regular meeting of the Communes CommissionEekhout, according to a 2020 Parliament press release, highlighted that the reform of the Communal Councils Law (the first of the laws of the popular power in the country sanctioned in 2006) “will strengthen the citizens’ assembly for the exercise of participatory and protagonist democracywill facilitate the process of renewal of the spokespersons, will guarantee the exercise of social control, in addition to supporting the financing of the community organization».
According to the legal instrument, to be Communal Council spokesperson You must be an inhabitant of the territory that includes it for a minimum of one year, be Venezuelan and in the case of being a foreigner, comply with the regulations that the State allows, be elected in an assembly of citizens with at least 40% of the electoral register in the territory. In addition, the deputy highlighted, “to have the moral and ethical qualities that allow her to occupy such responsibility.”
On the way to a communal state
The regulations were approved in the first discussion in the plenary session of the AN, on November 17, 2022 together with the Organic Law of Social Comptrollershipfollowing an order from the ruler Nicolas Maduro to review the set of laws of popular power, with the aim of eliminating “bureaucratic obstacles.” that prevent progress towards the consolidation of a “communal state” in Venezuela.
During the first debate in plenary, there was also talk of giving legal character to the electronic registry of the Communal Councils to eliminate intermediaries and to shield the systematization of electoral processes of said instances. The current law suffers from the renewal process of the Communal Councils, which in the reform would have a separate chapter. This lack, according to Chavismo, generated delays because there were no rules to call to choose the spokesperson once it had expired.
An additional change is that it is planned to change the rectory of the Ministry of Communes for the figure of “accompaniment” to give autonomy to decision-making in the Communal Councils.
What the Democratic Alliance says
The deputy of the Democratic Alliance Alfonso Campos has warned that the reform of the Community Councils Law gives territorial character to figures that They are not provided for in the Constitution. He warned that it is also the case of communes and communal cities.
“The 1999 Constitution says that the territory is organized into municipalities, any other form does not enter there,” said the deputy following the approval of the law in the first discussion.
He warned that before sanctioning the regulations, a reform of the Constitution must be considered to include these figures and submit it to a vote in a referendum so that the Venezuelan people approve or reject it. In addition, it maintained that the allocation of resources by the State to said forms of organization affect the budgets of governorships and mayoralties.
In the first discussion, on November 22, 2022, the reform to the Organic Law of Popular Power was approved. The laws of Public and Popular Planning, Community Management, Communal Economic System and Communal Economy are also in line. It is worth noting that the Communal Cities Law another law associated with the so-called popular power, awaits its second discussion since 2021.
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