CNN TOP STORIES

(CNN) -- Venezuelan lawmakers on Saturday will elect a president of the country's National Assembly, a vote with magnified importance because the winner could play a large role if President Hugo Chavez's health does not improve.

Chavez loyalist Diosdado Cabello currently holds the national assembly presidency, and is expected to be reelected.

Chavez has said he wants to see Vice President Nicolas Maduro to be his successor, and there are reports of tensions among his allies between factions backing the Cabello and those backing Maduro.

Cabello's fate in Saturday's vote will provide analysts tea leaves to read for signs of what political manauvering may come.

Oliver Stone on Hugo Chavez

Chavez, 58, has not been seen in public since arriving in Cuba for his fourth cancer operation more than three weeks ago, which has fueled speculation that his health is worse than the government is letting on.

Chavez absence sparks succession talk

Maduro said Friday that Chavez is "fighting for his health."

What happens if Chavez doesn't return?

The president's illness has cast doubt on whether he will be able to be inaugurated next week for his fourth term. There is debate over what the constitution requires for a president to take the oath of office in this circumstance.

If Chavez is unable to be sworn in before lawmakers on January 10 as scheduled, the constitution says Chavez can do so before the country's Supreme Court. But the wording of the constitution isn't clear on whether the inauguration before the Supreme Court must happen January 10, whether it must occur inside the country, and who should run Venezuela in the meantime.

Maduro said the government believes that a swearing in before the Supreme Court can happen at a later date, and hinted that Chavez would remain president after the 10th because he was reelected in October.

Chavez political opponents say a failure to swear in next weeks signifies that the president is permanently absent from his post, and that the national assembly president should take interim control while new elections are called in 30 days.

Maduro slammed the opposition for what he said was trying to take advantage of the situation and steal power.