Hugo Chavez Cancer Recovery Could Delay Inauguration, Says Venezuela VP Nicolas Maduro

As Hugo Chavez continues to recuperate from a severe respiratory infection after cancer surgery in a hospital in Cuba, questions swirl around the Venezuelan presidential succession if Chavez cannot make it home in time for his reinauguration on Jan. 10.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro waived aside these concerns, saying that since Chavez was reelected, he will remain president, and the Supreme Court can handle the details at an unspecified later date.

"The formality of his swearing-in can be resolved before the Supreme Court of Justice, at the time it deems in coordination with the head of state, Commander Hugo Chavez," Maduro said.

Chavez has not spoken or been seen in public since his surgery on Dec. 11, and opposition leader Ramon Guillermo Aveledo said that if Chavez cannot make the inauguration next week, a special election should take place within 30 days, a call Maduro rejected.

"They should respect our constitution," he said.

It's unclear what the 14-year-old Venezuelan Constitution requires if Chavez cannot be sworn in on Jan. 10.

It mandates a special election if the president becomes permanently unable to finish out his term, so if Chavez dies or is permanently incapacitated before his new term begins on Jan. 10, there will be another election.

After that date, either Maduro or the president of the National Assembly would step in to govern on an interim basis. The National Assembly meets this weekend to elect a new president, and the body is mostly loyal to Chavez.

But it's unlikely that situation would last for long. Even though Chavez appointed Maduro as his heir apparent before his surgery, Maduro doesn't engender the same kind of loyalty, so he would be ripe for a political coup from his opponents, or opposition leaders would have a much easier timer enacting a special election.

The Venezuelan Constitution also allows presidents to be recalled, so a popular vote might cause power to change hands at the top, as well.

In October of last year, Chavez won his reelection bid against moderate Henrique Capriles by only 8 points -- a huge margin in American politics, but a far cry from Chavez's 2006 victory where he won 63 percent of the vote.

Capriles is well-positioned to win in any special election following Chavez's death. His ground game is still in place, and his public support, particularly among the young and educated classes who were disappointed by his loss, is still high.