Term length 5 years Formation 1999 Website Official Website | Inaugural holder Willian Lara Deputy First Vice President | |
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Appointer Elected by the National Assembly | ||
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.
The current President of the National Assembly, since 5 January 2016, is Henry Ramos Allup, a member of the Democratic Action (AD) party and the Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition, from the Capital District and leader of AD since 2000.
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. 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.