Maduro dismisses legitimacy questions as second term looms

Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will begin his second mandate on Thursday plagued by accusations of illegitimacy and increasing international isolation in a country crippled by an economic crisis.

The 56-year-old leader will be sworn in by the Supreme Court rather than the sidelined -- and opposition controlled -- parliament having been reelected in May in a poll boycotted by the majority

of the opposition and dismissed as a fraud by the United States, European Union and Organisation of American States.

The EU even reiterated on Tuesday its call for new and "free" elections.

"We believe the (2018) presidential election was neither free nor credible. The EU demands a new election that is free and fair," said EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic.

With the exception of Mexico, the Lima Group -- made up of 14 mostly Latin American countries -- has urged Maduro to renounce his second term and deliver power to parliament, a demand Caracas blasted as incitement to stage a coup d'etat. Maduro's second term coincides with the assumption of power in Brazil of one of his greatest detractors, ultra-conservative Jair Bolsonaro who, backed by US President Donald Trump, is looking to form a regional coalition against the "dictatorship."

Increasingly shunned by its neighbours -- the OAS plans to hold an extraordinary session Thursday to discuss

Venezuela -- Caracas has reached out ever more to its few remaining international allies: Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and North Korea.

"Those who refuse to recognise the legitimacy of Venezuela's institutions will be given a reciprocal and opportune response, we'll act very firmly," said Maduro, who has the support of the military and the controversial Constitutional Assembly that he created

last year to bypass parliament.

The former bus driver says he feels stronger and more legitimate than ever, but many blame him for Venezuela's economic woes that have left much of the population living in poverty with shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine.

The International Monetary Fund predicts that Venezuela's economy will shrink by

five per cent next year with inflation -- which reached 1.35 million percent in 2018 -- hitting a staggering 10 million per cent. "Some think we're facing the worst of it... but there will be much more critical levels to come," warned Asdrubal Oliveros, director at

economic analysis group

Ecoanalitica.