| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Asamblea Nacional / National Assembly |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
4 December 2005 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all the seats in the National Assembly. |
On 4 December 2005
elections for an enlarged 167-member National Assembly (up from 165) were held together with elections for 12 deputies to the Latin American Parliament and 5 deputies to the Andean Parliament.
In the last elections in July 2000
the party of President Hugo Chávez
the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR)
won 93 of 165 seats
and its ally
the Movement towards Socialism (MAS)
six seats. Opposition parties obtained a total of 43 seats
as follows: the Democratic Action (AD)
32 seats; Project Venezuela (PRYZL)
seven seats; and the Social Christian Party (COPEI)
four seats. The remaining seats went to other small parties.
The 2005 elections were boycotted by the three main opposition parties
which claimed that the National Elections Council favored pro-government candidates. They also argued that the use of high-tech thumbprint voter identification devices would violate the secrecy of the vote. Although the National Elections Council decided to remove the fingerprint capturing devices
the opposition parties withdrew from the elections on 29 November 2005.
The MVR and its allies aimed to increase their majority in the National Assembly to two-thirds in order to be able to pass constitutional reforms that were strongly opposed by opposition leaders.
On polling day
only 25 per cent of the country's 14.2 million registered voters turned out to vote
sharply down from 56 per cent in the 2000 elections. Polling stations in middle-class urban areas were reportedly empty.
Observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) declared the poll legitimate. European Union (EU) observers concluded that election day had passed off peacefully despite a low turnout. They noted several irregularities in the voting procedures
but confirmed the high reliability of the voting machines.
The MVR and its allies won a total of 161 seats. The remaining six seats went to candidates supporting President Chávez. No opposition members were elected.
The National Assembly held its first session on 5 January 2006 and re-elected Mr. Nicolas Maduro as Speaker. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 4 December 2005 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
14'272'964
3'604'741 (25.26%)
206'174
3'398'567 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% |
|
|
| Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Others |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
|
|
|
|
| Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) |
161
|
|
|
|
|
| Others |
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
138
29
17.37%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
|
|
| Comments |
Source:
http://www.cne.gov.ve/
Asamblea Nacional (16.01.2006; 22.02.2006
01.01.2010) |
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module
