Venezuela National Assembly re-elects Chavez ally Cabello

Venezuela's National Assembly has met to choose its leader, a possible stand-in for President Hugo Chavez who is in Cuba following cancer surgery.

The assembly re-elected the incumbent Diosdado Cabello, a leading ally of Mr Chavez.

Opposition leaders are calling for new elections if the president cannot be sworn in for his new term on Thursday.

In such a situation, Mr Cabello would become caretaker president pending the outcome of the vote.

Vice-President Nicolas Maduro has dismissed the opposition's calls, saying the Supreme Court can swear in Mr Chavez at a later date.

Some in the opposition say that if Mr Chavez is still in Cuba, power should pass to the head of the National Assembly and new elections should be held within 30 days.

But Mr Maduro has insisted that Thursday is not a fixed 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."

Mr Chavez - who was re-elected for a fourth term in October - has not been seen in public since his latest round of surgery more than three weeks ago.

Mr Villegas said on Thursday that the president had suffered complications due to a lung infection and had a "respiratory insufficiency".