Venezuelan Democracy Takes Another Blow as Congress Bypassed
- Supreme Court strips National Assembly of budget oversight
- Congress president says court is showing a ‘criminal attitude’
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Venezuela’s democracy took another blow late Tuesday when the Supreme Court ruled that its constitutional chamber had the authority to approve the 2017 budget instead of the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
Citing a previous ruling that nullified any acts passed by the National Assembly after it reinstated three disputed lawmakers and President Nicolas Maduro’s emergency powers, the court bypassed the congress completely. The government now has five days to submit the budget to the constitutional chamber, one of the Supreme Court’s six chambers.