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January 15th, 2016 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : A stalemate between Venezuela’s three branches of government was narrowly avoided when legislator’s from the majority Democratic Unity Roundtabele (MUD) coalition and the PSUV reached a compromise regarding the temporary suspension of three lawmakers from Amazon State.
The fist session of Venezuela’s National Assembly, following elections on January 6 and an unequivocal victory for the Democratic Roundtable (MUD) coalition almost plunged Venezuela into a stalemate between the three branches of government that could have rendered the country ungovernable. PSUV legislators walked out of the session when MUD legislators broke protocol and presented their political program instead of limiting the session to the swearing in of legislators.
The situation deteriorated further when National Assembly President Henry Ramos Allup swore in four legislators who has temporarily been suspended by the Supreme Court of Justice, pending an investigation into alleged vote-buying and other irregularities in Venezuela’s Amazonas State.
The crisis deepened when the Supreme Court of Justice responded to the swearing in of the suspended legislators by declaring the National Assembly as null and void. On Tuesday a crisis was narrowly prevented when National Assembly President Henry Ramos Allup and PSUV legislator Cilia Flores reached a compromise that resulted in the acceptance of the temporary suspension of three legislators from Amazonas State.
Ramos Allup remarked that the temporary suspension of the three legislators does not change the fact that the MUD has and maintains a two-third majority in the Assembly. Amazonas State governor Liborio Guarulla complained that the suspension of the legislators leaved Amazonas State without representation. Amazonas State represents 20 percent of Venezuela’s territory.
The crisis between the PSUV Presidency of Nicolas Maduro, his Cabinet, the PSUV dominated Supreme Court of Justice and the MUD dominated National Assembly is, despite the compromise, likely to continue. The PSUV and the Presidency implemented a cohort of last-minute measures before the new National Assembly was sworn in to, as they say, secure the progress made by the Bolivarian revolution.
The MUD has the declared political aim to also lead to and win presidential elections. A project to which the MUD has allotted about six month. Meanwhile MUD legislators have begun adopting measures based on a neo-liberal policy. MUD leader Julio Borges introduced a bill that aims at privatizing housing that has been constructed by the Great Venezuelan Housing Mission. PSUV legislators criticized the bill for being both neo-liberal and populist.
The populist aspect lies in the fact that the bill would transfer the property deeds of over 1 million housing units to its residents who currently retain a permanent lease that cannot be transferred. The monthly payments are currently determined by a number of factors, including the income of the resident.
Historical precedence from the former Soviet Union documents the risks associated with the privatization of State guaranteed housing. The privatization of the housing market in the early 1990s led to a cohort of serious problems. Among them, the abuse of alcoholics and drug addicts who sold their homes to cover a few days of substance abuse, the emergence of criminal gangs under the guise of real-estate agents who blackmailed or threatened residents to sell their homes far below market price and more.
In a country with a crime rate as high as it is in Venezuela, it is likely that the “right” to sell or transfer the deed for the State-funded homes will result in similar problems. Several independent analysts are, however, warning that an over-reaction by Venezuela’s PSUV and the Presidency risks to backfire, especially considering that the MUD has won two-third of the popular vote in the National Assembly elections.
CH/ – nsnbc 15.01.2015
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/01/15/venezuela-narrowly-escapes-constitutional-crisis-for-now/
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