STORY: Venezuela prepared on Saturday to vote for the new president of the National Assembly as concerns for President Hugo Chavez mounted after news he continued to suffer from a severe lung infection.
Chavez supporters gathered outside the National Assembly ahead of the election. Current National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello is expected to win re-election.
On Friday, Vice President Nicolas Maduro said that Chavez's formal swearing-in for a new six-year term scheduled for Jan. 10 can be postponed if he is unable to attend due to his battle to recover from cancer surgery.
Maduro's comments were the clearest indication yet that the Venezuelan government is preparing to delay the swearing-in while avoiding naming a replacement for Chavez or calling a new election in the South American OPEC nation.
