President of the National Assembly of Venezuela

President of the National Assembly
President of the National Assembly
	Incumbent; Disputed between Jorge Rodríguez and Dinorah Figuera; since 5 January 2023
Appointer	National Assembly
Term length	1 year
Inaugural holder	Willian Lara
Formation	10 August 2000
Deputy	First Vice President
Website	www.asambleanacionalvenezuela.org

The president of the National Assembly (Spanish: Presidente de la Asamblea Nacional) is the presiding officer (speaker) of the National Assembly, Venezuela's unicameral legislature. The president's term coincides with the term of the legislature (five years as per constitutional convention). The post has existed since the election of the first National Assembly in 2000. Before the creation of the National Assembly with the adoption of the 1999 constitution, the country's legislature was the bicameral Congress, which contained the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The last president of the Senate was Luis Alfonso Dávila, and the last president of the Chamber of Deputies was Henrique Capriles Radonski.

Since 5 January 2019, Juan Guaidó, a member of the Popular Will (VP) party and the Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition,^{[citation needed]} has been President of the National Assembly. On 5 January 2020, however, state police blocked some deputies' entry to the chambers of the National Assembly^{[citation needed]} as Luis Parra was elected to be the next president of the Assembly, with Guaidó and his allies alleging the election took place without a quorum being present. However, José Noriega of the Popular Will party and second vice-president of the National Assembly stated that a sufficient number of votes were cast for a valid election.^[1] Following the disputed election, two competing claims emerged over the post – one by Luis Parra and one by Juan Guaidó, with both claiming to be the legitimate President of the National Assembly.^[2]

In 2020, parliamentary elections took place in Venezuela, in which, without opposition participation and amid claims for fraud and lack of transparency, Chavismo took full control of the legislature. Since January 5, 2021, the date on which the majority socialist parliament began sessions – the V Legislature, Jorge Rodríguez claims to be the president of the National Assembly,^[3] while the IV Legislature, elected in 2015 and recognized by a considerable part of the international community, extended its functions through a referendum, so Juan Guaidó also continues to maintain that he leads the Venezuelan parliament.^[4] By this situation, it is understood that two parliaments now operate in parallel in the country, one elected in 2015 with an opposition majority, and another elected in 2020 with a Chavista majority.^[5]

Constitutional role

The president of the National Assembly's authority resides in Article 194 of the Venezuelan constitution (section 2, chapter 1, Title V: "On the Organization of the National Public Authority"), which states the deputies are to elect a president and two vice-presidents from among themselves to administer and represent the National Assembly for a period of one year. Alongside the president and the two vice-presidents, the deputies also elect a -secretary and an under-secretary. The president of the National Assembly is second in the line of succession of the president of Venezuela after the vice president, as stated in Article 233 of the constitution.

List of presidents of the National Assembly

No.	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		State	Legislature	Party
1	Willian Lara (1959–2010)	10 August 2000	5 January 2003	Guárico	1st	Fifth Republic Movement
2	Francisco Ameliach (born 1963)	5 January 2003	5 January 2005	Carabobo	1st	Fifth Republic Movement
3	Nicolás Maduro (born 1962)	5 January 2005	7 August 2006	Capital District	2nd	Fifth Republic Movement
4	Cilia Flores (born 1953)	15 August 2006	5 January 2011	Capital District		Fifth Republic Movement
4	Cilia Flores (born 1953)	15 August 2006	5 January 2011	Capital District		United Socialist Party
5	Fernando Soto Rojas [es] (born 1933)	5 January 2011	5 January 2012	Falcón	3rd	United Socialist Party (GPP)
6	Diosdado Cabello (born 1963)	5 January 2012	5 January 2016	Monagas	3rd	United Socialist Party (GPP)
7	Henry Ramos Allup (born 1943)	5 January 2016	5 January 2017	Capital District	4th	Democratic Action (MUD)
8	Julio Borges (born 1969)	5 January 2017	5 January 2018	Miranda		Justice First (MUD)
9	Omar Barboza (born 1944)	5 January 2018	5 January 2019	Zulia		A New Era (MUD)
10	Juan Guaidó (born 1983)	5 January 2019^[a]	5 January 2023	Vargas (La Guaira)		Popular Will (MUD)
11	Luis Parra (born 1978)	5 January 2020^[b]	5 January 2021	Yaracuy		Independent (GPP)
12	Jorge Rodríguez (born 1965)	5 January 2021	Incumbent	Capital District	5th	United Socialist Party (GPP)
13	Dinorah Figuera (born 1961)	5 January 2023^[c]	Incumbent	Aragua	4th	Justice First (MUD)

Notes

^ Disputed with Rodríguez from 5 January 2021 to 5 January 2023.
^ Disputed with Guaidó.
^ Disputed with Rodríguez from 5 January 2023.

References

^ Romero, Valentín (5 January 2019). "Parra fue escogido sin votos, ni quórum: Diputados opositores" (in Spanish). Noticiero Digital. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
^ "Two Venezuela lawmakers declare themselves Speaker". 6 January 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
^ "Venezuela Seats Pro-Maduro Congress | Voice of America - English". www.voanews.com. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
^ "Venezuela's opposition assembly approves its continuity for 2021 | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Venezuela: Guaidó y chavistas instalan parlamentos paralelos | DW | 05.01.2021". DW.COM (in European Spanish). Retrieved 5 January 2021.

External links

Official Website of the Venezuelan National Assembly

[6] Disputed with Rodríguez from 5 January 2021 to 5 January 2023.

[7] Disputed with Guaidó.

[8] Disputed with Rodríguez from 5 January 2023.

[1] Romero, Valentín (5 January 2019). "Parra fue escogido sin votos, ni quórum: Diputados opositores" (in Spanish). Noticiero Digital. Retrieved 5 January 2019.

[2] "Two Venezuela lawmakers declare themselves Speaker". 6 January 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2020.

[3] "Venezuela Seats Pro-Maduro Congress | Voice of America - English". www.voanews.com. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.

[4] "Venezuela's opposition assembly approves its continuity for 2021 | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved 5 January 2021.

[5] Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Venezuela: Guaidó y chavistas instalan parlamentos paralelos | DW | 05.01.2021". DW.COM (in European Spanish). Retrieved 5 January 2021.

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v t e Leaders of legislatures of Venezuela
Senate (1959–1999)	Travieso Leoni Pieto Figueroa Dubuc Vegas Pérez Díaz Barrios González Mora Lepage Morales Bello Montesinos Lepage Gómez Tamayo Fernández Daló Aguilar Dávila
Chamber of Deputies (1959–1999)	Caldera (1959–1962) Ledezma (1962) Arcaya (1962–1964) Santaella (1964–1965) Ugarte Pelayo (1965–1966) López Orihuela (1966–1967) Betancourt (1967–1968) Rondón Lovera (1968–1969) Dáger (1969–1970) Léidenz (1970–1974) Ramírez Cubillán (1974–1975) Álvarez Paz (1975–1979) Canache Mata (1979–1982) Sánchez Bueno (1982–1983) Ferrer (1983–1987) Iturbe (1987– Oberto Lauría Aveledo Rojas Capriles
National Assembly (1999–)	Lara (2000–2003) Amelaich (2003–2005) Maduro (2005–2006) Flores (2006–2011) Soto Rojas (2011–2012) Cabello (2012–2016) Ramos Allup (2016–2017) Borges (2017–2018) Barboza (2018–2019) Guaidó (2019–2023) Rodríguez (2021–)