Hugo Chávez has named his foreign minister, Nicols Maduro, as vice-president in a cabinet shake-up.
Maduro, 49, a former bus driver, replaces Elías Jaua, who will run for the governorship of Miranda state against the defeated presidential candidate Henrique Capriles in December.
Maduro has been foreign minister since 2006 and has long been seen as a possible successor to Chávez. He has been frequently at his side at critical moments since Chávez began cancer treatment last year.
Should Chávez’s cancer reappear and force him out of office within the first four years of his six-year term, the vice-president would serve temporarily as president before a new election. If Chávez left office in the final two years, the vice-president would serve out the rest of the term. Chávez, 58, has led Venezuela since 1999 and won re-election by an 11-point margin on Sunday.
“I don’t recommend anyone for the vice-president’s job,” Chávez joked, naming Maduro during the formal proclamation of his presidential win by Venezuela’s election board. “Putting up with me is not easy!”
Maduro’s working-class background gives him more appeal than other officials among Chávez’s supporters. He was elected to parliament in 2000, and his combative defence of Chávez’s socialism made him a favoured protege. “He was a bus driver. How they mock him, the bourgeoisie,” said Chávez, who depicts his socialist government as a protector of the masses against an evil capitalist elite.
