Vice-President Nicolas Maduro said the Supreme¹ Court could swear in Mr Chavez at a later date. 

 

He dismissed opposition² calls for new elections should Mr Chavez not attend. 

 

President Chavez is in Cuba struggling to recover from his latest round of surgery to treat cancer. 

 

He has not been seen in public since the operation more than three weeks ago. 

 

 

Observers have different interpretations³ of what it would mean if Mr Chavez misses his inauguration⁴（就职典礼） on Thursday.

 

Some in the opposition have said that if Mr Chavez is still in Cuba, power should pass to the speaker of parliament, and new elections should be held within 30 days.

 

But Mr Maduro said Thursday was not a fixed⁵ deadline, and that there was no reason to declare Mr Chavez's "absolute absence" from office.

 

"The formality of his swearing-in can be resolved in the Supreme Court," he said.

 

"The president right now is president," he said, waving a pocket-sized copy of the constitution. 

 

"Don't mess with the people. Respect democracy."

 

The head of the main opposition coalition⁶, Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, said the government "doesn't want to admit that the president is absent".

 

"The official version of what is happening is unsustainable," he told reporters.

 

Officials have said that Mr Chavez, 58, has suffered from complications brought on by a severe lung infection that developed after his latest surgery.

 

Mr Maduro said the president had "a right to rest and tranquillity⁷（心神稳定）, and to recuperate⁸".

 

"We will have the commander well again."

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