Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro requested on Tuesday that the National Assembly implement the Ley Habilitante (Enabling Law), granting him special powers in order to fight corruption, economic issues and “capitalist logic” for one year. Maduro will need at least one opposition vote next week to receive the legislative powers. Because his party already has a two-thirds majority in the legislature, it is expected that the Enabling Law—which former President Hugo Chávez was granted four times—will be implemented for the executive.
Maduro insists the legislative powers are necessary to fight graft, given that Venezuela was ranked as the third most corrupt country in the world behind Liberia and Mongolia. But the news sparked speculation that Maduro is seeking to use his powers to undermine opposition candidates and distract Venezuelans from the economic crisis in their country. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles stated that he believed Maduro’s government would “ use the law to persecute and distract the people from their real problems.”
Maduro’s request comes at a time when Venezuela claims highest inflation rate in the region, a sluggish economy and a power outage that left more than 65 percent of Venezuelans without electricity last month. Many analysts believe that 14 years of the Cadivi system—currency and price controls that are a holdover from the Chávez era—are seen as the main culprit behind Venezuela’s high inflation and shaky economy. The system, which provides dollars to importers and Venezuelans who travel abroad, has long been exploited and helped drive the black market price of the dollar to seven times the official exchange rate.
