Chavez ally Diosdado Cabello re-elected as Venezuela National Assembly chief

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez’s allies staged a show of unity on Saturday, re-electing the ruling party’s Diosdado Cabello as parliamentary speaker, while their president battles cancer in Cuba.

The closing of ranks by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) came as it emerged as all but certain that illness will keep Chavez from being sworn in to a new six-year term on Thursday as scheduled.

“The president will continue being president beyond January 10, nobody should have any doubt about that,” said Cabello after his election, accusing the opposition of fomenting a “coup d’etat.”

Vice President Nicolas Maduro called the swearing-in a “formality” and said he too would stay on in office without taking any oath until there was an opportunity to do so.

Cabello’s re-election was intended in part to answer persistent rumours of a power struggle within the regime during Chavez’s more than three-week absence, the longest stretch in his 14-year presidency.

“We will never defraud the people and we will get on our knees to defend the proposal made by comandante Chavez, I swear it,” Cabello said as he took his oath of office.