London, Jan 9 : Venezuela President Hugo Chavez will not attend his scheduled swearing-in this week due to his illness.

Venezuela''s government confirmed the reports that the leader''s illness will keep him in a Cuban hospital past the key date.

Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, in a letter to the National Assembly President, Diosdado Cabello, said that on the recommendation of Chavez''s medical team, his recovery process `should be extended beyond January 10' and for that reason he won''t be able to attend Thursday''s scheduled inauguration, the Independent reports.

The President, who won re-election three months ago, underwent his fourth cancer-related surgery in Cuba last month.

Maduro said Chavez was invoking a provision in the constitution allowing him to be sworn in before the Supreme Court at a `later date'.

However, tensions between the government and opposition have been building over whether the ailing President''s swearing-in can legally be postponed, the report said. (ANI)