Others (21) The National Assembly (Spanish: Asamblea Nacional) is the federal legislature of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which was first elected in 2000 under the 1999 constitution.

This Congress was composed of a Senate of Venezuela (Senado) and a Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados).

In addition, former presidents (those elected democratically or their replacements legally appointed to serve at least half a presidential term) were awarded lifetime senate seats.

President Hugo Chávez was first elected in December 1998 on a platform calling for a National Constituent Assembly to be convened to draft a new constitution for Venezuela.

The National Constituent Assembly (ANC), consisting of 131 elected individuals, convened in August 1999 to begin rewriting the constitution.

[6][7] On 4 August 2017, Venezuela convened a new Constituent National Assembly after a special election which was boycotted by the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) and other opposition parties.

[6] The new Constituent Assembly is intended to rewrite the constitution; it also has wide legal powers allowing it to rule above all other state institutions.

[10] It justified the move by claiming that the National Assembly had failed to prevent what it called "opposition violence" in the form of the 2017 Venezuelan protests.

The events resulted in two competing claims for the Presidency of the National Assembly: one by deputy Luis Parra and one by Juan Guaidó.

From inside the legislature, Parra declared himself president of the National Assembly; a move that was welcomed by Maduro administration.

Later in the day, a separate session was carried out at the headquarters of El Nacional newspaper, where 100 of the 167 deputies voted to re-elect Guaidó as president of the parliament.

Moreover, they are not allowed to accept or exercise other public offices without losing their status as deputies, except for teaching, academic, or assistance activities that do not require full-time dedication.

Under the current Bolivarian 1999 Constitution, the legislative branch of Government in Venezuela is represented by a unicameral National Assembly.

Officials are elected by "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vote on a national party-list proportional representation system.

[18] In addition, three deputies are returned on a state-by-state basis, and three seats are reserved for representatives of Venezuela's indigenous peoples.

Nevertheless, since then Maduro has exercised majority control of the Venezuelan parliament, displacing Juan Guaidó from his oppositional presidency.