CARACAS, Aug 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuela’s pro-government Constitutional Assembly will end operations in December when a new legislature will be elected, President Nicolas Maduro said, in a vote boycotted by the opposition.
The Constitutional Assembly, which took power in July 2017 amid mass protests that left more than 100 people dead, became the country’s de facto congress following opposition control of the Venezuelan legislature, the National Assembly.
Its members, all government supporters, were chosen in elections deemed illegitimate by the opposition, the United States and many European and Latin American nations.
In theory, their purpose was to write a new constitution, but in practice they have issued decrees to be immediately enforced.
“The National Constitutional Assembly will operate until December. That is what they have decided,” Maduro said during a videoconference of the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Elections for the single-chamber National Assembly are scheduled for Dec 6, but the bulk of the political opposition have already said they will boycott the poll.
Washington has said it would not recognize the vote, and the European Union has asked for the vote to be delayed because the process does not provide “transparent” and “just” conditions.
Venezuela’s main opposition parties decided to boycott the December vote after the pro-government Supreme Justice Tribunal named new election authorities, a task that belongs to the legislative branch.
On Friday, some 30 countries issued a joint declaration calling for a “government of transition” in Venezuela that would lead to “free and just presidential elections as soon as possible.”
In January 2019, the speaker of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, declared himself Venezuela’s interim president, accusing Maduro of being fraudulently re-elected in 2018.
He has since been recognized by some 50 countries. — NNN-AGENCIES
