Chavez asks to give him emergency powers to combat floods

Hugo Chavez, the head of Venezuela, now suffering from the consequences of prolonged floods, intends to ask parliamentarians for the fourth time during his presidency to provide him with extraordinary powers so that he can adopt laws by his decree, the AP agency reports.

According to Chavez, in areas such as housing construction, the use of land and the banking sector, it is necessary to act quickly, and the passage of bills through parliament takes a long time.

“We can’t waste time,” Chavez said on the air of the state television channel, referring to the situation in the country, RIA Novosti reports.

As the agency reports, Chavez intends to apply to the parliament shortly before January 5, when the composition of the National Assembly (local parliament) is being updated. According to the results of the September elections, more oppositionists will enter the new composition of the parliament, so Chavez will no longer be able to enlist the support of two -thirds of legislators to receive extraordinary powers.

For almost 12 years of his presidency (since February 1999), Chavez has already received emergency rights three times - in 1999, 2001 and 2007. The last time Chavez acted as a legislator for 18 months.

The floods caused in the country with ongoing heavy rains and a stormy wind took away the lives of more than 30 people, thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. Chavez even provided the presidential palace as a temporary shelter for the victims. There are already about 60 people who will be in the residence of the head of state for almost a year - until the end of the construction of their new housing.