V National Assembly of Venezuela

The V National Assembly of Venezuela was the sitting National Assembly of Venezuela for the period 2021–2026. The National Assembly is the meeting of the legislative branch of the Venezuelan federal government. The V National Assembly met in the capital, Caracas, from 5 January 2021, following the 2020 Venezuelan parliamentary election.^[1]

The deputies who made up the pro-government–majority legislature were elected in the parliamentary elections of 6 December 2020, in which major sectors of the Venezuelan opposition neither participated nor presented candidates, alleging a lack of conditions for a clean and democratic process.^[2][3][4]

The opposition parties that made up the opposition bloc unanimously agreed not to participate in the parliamentary elections, citing allegations of irregularities in the planning of the elections and maintaining that they would likely be fraudulent. Twenty-seven parties signed the agreement, including the main parties Democratic Action, Justice First, A New Era and Popular Will.^[5][6]

However, in the case of parties such as Democratic Action, Copei, Popular Will, Fatherland for All and Tupamaro, participation took place under ad hoc leaderships imposed judicially months earlier by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, headed by members of the respective parties who had been expelled on accusations of corruption. These actions were rejected and disavowed by the top representatives of the respective parties, who countered that the political manoeuvre had been done in order to simulate a false democracy at the international level.^[7][8][9]

In the fifth legislature, the Simón Bolívar Great Patriotic Pole held an absolute majority (over 98%), after having lost it in the 2015 elections, which had a 71% voter turnout, compared with only 30% turnout recorded in the December 2020 elections. (In 2015, the Democratic Unity Roundtable had gained control of two thirds of the Venezuelan parliament, reaching 112 seats out of a total of 167).^[10]

The Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela declared on 5 June 2020 an unconstitutional omission by the IV National Assembly. After this declaration, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice prepared to appoint the members of the National Electoral Council (CNE), violating Article 8 of the Organic Law of Electoral Power.^[11]

On 12 June, in a forced manner, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice selected the new leadership of the National Electoral Council omitting the steps that the constitution assigns to the National Assembly.^[12]

Indira Maira Alfonzo Izaguirre was appointed as a principal rector and president of the National Electoral Council, while Rafael Simón Jiménez Melean was also made a principal rector and its vice-president. Tania D’Amelio Cardiet, Gladys María Gutiérrez Alvarado, and José Luis Gutiérrez Parra were also appointed as principal rectors.^[13][14]

The new National Electoral Council agreed on Tuesday, 30 June, to increase to 277 the number of deputies eligible for the National Assembly and announced that the upcoming parliamentary elections would be held in December 2020.^[15]

After the controversial elections of 6 December 2020, in which the PSUV-led Great Patriotic Pole alliance won a supermajority of seats, on 7 January Venezuela faced intense political polarization. Twenty-four countries expressed their support for the new National Assembly elected in 2020, while the previous, 2016 Assembly retained the support of most countries, including the European Union, the United States, and countries of the Lima Group.^{[16][17][18][19]}

On 5 January 2021, the new assembly was installed.^[20]

On 19 January 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, appointed by then US president Joe Biden, reported that he would continue recognizing Juan Guaidó as interim president and supporting the 2016 National Assembly as the only legitimate democratic institution.^[21][22]

In February 2021, the assembly voted to expel the Ambassador from the European Union.^[23]

The initial composition of the National Assembly was divided into four coalitions: the majority coalition made up of the pro-government bloc supporting President Nicolás Maduro and the self-styled Bolivarian Revolution, with 253 seats and an additional three seats from Indigenous representation, for a total of 256 deputies, thus obtaining a qualified majority in parliament. On the other hand, the minority consisted of the opposition bloc made up of deputies from the Democratic Alliance with 20 seats, and the “dissidence” belonging to the Popular Revolutionary Alternative with one representative. However, if the seat allocation system established by the TSJ had been applied, the distribution would have been as follows: GPPSB, 192; Democratic Alliance, 60; Popular Revolutionary Alternative, 7; and minor parties sharing 18 seats.

The following table shows the composition of the National Assembly for the 2021–2026 constitutional legislative term.^[24]

• I National Assembly of Venezuela
• II National Assembly of Venezuela
• III National Assembly of Venezuela
• IV National Assembly of Venezuela
• VI National Assembly of Venezuela