2016: The Supreme Court Ruled That the Actions of the National Assembly were “Null and Void”

In the December 6,2015 National Assembly election, the opposition coalition (MUD) won 109 seats. Three additional seats were won by indigenous candidates from the sparsely-populated state of Amazonas (Julio Ygarza, Nirma Guarulla, Romel Guzamana) who sided with the opposition. Together, the three Amazonas delegates and the 109 MUD delegates would make a two thirds super-majority.

On December 29, 2015, a losing Amazonas candidate filed a legal challenge with the Supreme Court alleging that the three Amazonas candidates were elected as a result of widespread fraud. On December 30 the Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction against the three and ruled that they should not be sworn in as Delegates until the fraud allegations were investigated [1]. The three Amazonas delegates were sworn in on January 6, 2016 in defiance of the Supreme Court ruling. On January 11 the Supreme Court ruled that the National Assembly was in contempt by violating their order. The Court said: “Decisions taken by the National Assembly while these citizens are seated will be absolutely null.” [2] An editorial in the January 12 Washington Post referred to the Court’s decision as “a gross abuse of power” and that “Venezuelan Leaders shred the Constitution to hold on to power” [3]. 

On January 13, photos, audio recordings, and videos documenting opposition leaders buying votes for the Amazonas delegates were released. [4] The three Amazonas delegates resigned . National Assembly President Ramos Allup notified the Supreme Court that the Assembly was in compliance with the Court’s order. The contempt citation on the National Assembly was removed.

No longer in contempt, the National Assembly passed four Laws including an Amnesty Law and a Housing Law. The MUD coalition accused the Supreme Court of deliberately stalling the investigation of the three Amazonas delegates and they were sworn in as Delegates on July 28. On August 1, the Supreme Court declared the National Assembly to be in contempt and issued a temporary injunction declaring that all actions by the National Assembly would be void until the three legislators were dismissed [5] 

The National Assembly remained in a state of contempt of the judicial system. The National Assembly could have resolved the issue at any time by removing the three delegates. The opposition-controlled Assembly was disinterested in resolving the conflict as part of its campaign to delegitimize the government. The stalemate was cited as evidence of Venezuela’s descent into “dictatorship.”[6]



  

1.BBC, Venezuela court suspends three new opposition MPs, December 31, 2015

2, Venezuelan Supreme Court:” National Assembly is Void,”Venezuelanalysis, January 12, 2016

3. New York Times, Opinion: Venezuela’s leaders shred the constitution to hold onto power, January 12, 2016.

 4. Legislators present new evidence of irregularities in Venezuela’s National Assembly Elections, Venezuelanalysis, January 13, 2016.

5. Venezuelan Supreme Court Blocks Swearing-in of Amazonas Legislators, Venezuelanalysis, August 3, 2016.

6. Has Maduro Really Dissolved the National Assembly in Venezuela?, Venezuelanalysis, April 1, 2017.

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