1999 Constitutional Assembly of Venezuela
| Constituent National Assembly Asamblea Nacional Constituyente |
|
|---|---|
.png) |
|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
|
President
|
|
| Structure | |
| Seats | 131 |
 |
|
|
Political groups
|
Government
Opposition
|
| Meeting place | |
 |
|
| Federal Legislative Palace, Caracas | |
| Website | |
| [1] | |
Government
Opposition
The Constituent National Assembly (Spanish: Asamblea Nacional Constituyente) was a constitutional convention held in Venezuela in 1999 to draft a new Constitution of Venezuela, but the assembly also gave itself the role of a supreme power above all the existing institutions in the republic. The Assembly was endorsed by a referendum in April 1999 which enabled Constituent Assembly elections in July 1999. Three seats were reserved for indigenous delegates in the 131-member constitutional assembly, and two additional indigenous delegates won unreserved seats in the assembly elections.
The constitution was later endorsed by the referendum in December 1999, and new general elections were held under the new constitution in July 2000. This ended the Fourth Republic of Venezuela and ushered in the present-day Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
President Chávez called for a public referendum - something virtually unknown in Venezuela at the time - which he hoped would support his plans to form a constitutional assembly, composed of representatives from across Venezuela, as well as from indigenous tribal groups, which would be able to rewrite the nation's constitution. The referendum went ahead on 25 April 1999, and was an overwhelming success for Chávez, with 88% of voters supporting the proposal. Following this, Chávez called for an election to take place on 25 July 1999, in which the members of the constitutional assembly would be voted into power, and as Bart Jones commented, "The stakes were high. Chávez believed a constitutional assembly controlled by his supporters was the major breakthrough the country needed to end the traditional parties' stronghold on power. The oligarchy, the traditional parties, and much of the media feared it was the final step to establishing a one-man dictatorship."
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