[NYTr] Venez Puts Finishing Touches on Constitutional Reform Proposal Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:06:13 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Venezuelan Parliament Put Finishing Touches on Reform Proposal Caracas, Oct 12 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan Parliament focuses on the Constitutional reform project which final debate should begin on Monday, avoiding the Day of the Indigenous Resistance holiday commemoration. The commission members in charge of preparing the third reading of the proposal made last August by President Hugo Chavez, announced they will work until late in the morning, if necessary over the weekend, to finish the report. Parliament members should assemble ChavezB4s modifying project of 33 of the 350 articles of the Constitution with criteria and suggestions collected in the first parliamentary readings and after a consultation process with the population. The dignitary proposed changes in property concepts to give priority to social character as well as the introduction of People's Power (community), among other modifications directed to pave the way for the construction of socialism. The third parliamentary debate will discuss article by article and after its definitive approval, scheduled for November 2nd, they will call for a national referendum through which the population will express its final criterion. President Chavez called his supporters to approve the reform which he considers decisive to go towards socialism, which is supported by 62.7 percent of the population, according to a recent independent poll. ef abo ml PL-16 *** excerpted from VIO Venezuela News Roundup - Oct 12, 2007 [In a session of the mixed committee for constitutional reform of the Venezuelan National Assembly on Wednesday, six new provisions were added to proposed constitutional changes. They include measures that would lower the voting age by two years and ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, Bloomberg reports. Chavez made a statement encouraging voter turnout at a national referendum on the reforms that will follow debates in the National Assembly and by diverse civil society groups across Venezuela.-VIO] Bloomberg - October 11, 2007 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aqg5jOxmM.Vg&refer=latin_america Venezuela May Lower Voting Age, Add Gay Rights in Constitution By Matthew Walter A Venezuelan legislative committee voted to lower the voting age and protect gay rights in a expansion of President Hugo Chavez's plan to rewrite the country's constitution. Venezuelans would gain the right to vote at age 16 under the proposed changes, down from the current age of 18, and discrimination based on sexual orientation would be formally outlawed in the constitution, according to a statement on the National Assembly's Web site. The Chavez-controlled National Assembly is likely trying to expand the voter base and tap increased support for the president's socialist ''Bolivarian revolution'' among younger Venezuelans, said Riordan Roett, head of Latin American Studies at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. ''The assumption is that the younger people are going to be Bolivarians,'' Roett said in a telephone interview. ''They are going to be the ones whose families have benefited from Chavez's social programs.'' During a session yesterday the mixed committee for constitutional reform added six more changes to the 33 in the president's original proposal unveiled in August. Chavez's plan would eliminate presidential term limits, do away with central bank autonomy and introduce new definitions for private property, which critics have called a power grab. During a rally for Chavez's Unified Venezuelan Socialist Party, the president said citizens should turn out to vote and ignore efforts by the opposition to encourage abstentions. Chavez said the average age among the party's 5.7 million members is now 35 years old, and will likely fall should voters approve the plan to lower the voting age. ``It's a very young party,'' Chavez said. The legislative committee will send the proposed constitutional changes to the full assembly next week, where it will be discussed for 15 days. Once approved there it will go to a national referendum, possibly as early as December. * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================