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Venezuela: Venezuela Government Profile 2012

2012/04/06

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Venezuela Government Profile 2012

Venezuela, a federal republic is governed by the 1999 Constitution. The country is divided into 23 states, federal district, which contains the capital, Caracas, and federal dependencies, which include 72 islands.
The executive power within the federal government is exercised by the President who is elected by direct universal suffrage for a term of six years. The president appoints ministers to serve on the Council of Ministers. Venezuela's National Assembly, the legislative branch is unicameral. Members of the National Assembly are elected by direct universal suffrage for a term of five years.
The judiciary is headed by the Supreme Court, judges are elected by the National Assembly for a term of twelve years. States have several levels of courts.
Each of the 23 states have a governor who is elected by direct universal suffrage. Members of state legislatures are elected.
Government type: 

federal republic

Administrative divisions: 

23 states (estados, singular - estado), 1 capital district* (distrito capital), and 1 ** (dependencia federal); Amazonas, Anzoategui, Apure, Aragua, Barinas, Bolivar, Carabobo, Cojedes, Delta Amacuro, Dependencias Federales**, Distrito Federal*, Falcon, Guarico, Lara, Merida, Miranda, Monagas, Nueva Esparta, Portuguesa, Sucre, Tachira, Trujillo, Vargas, Yaracuy, Zulia note: the federal dependency consists of 11 federally controlled island groups with a total of 72 individual island

Independence: 

5 July 1811 (from Spain)

National holiday: 

Independence Day, 5 July (1811)

Constitution: 

30 Dec.1999

Legal system: 

open, adversarial court system; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 

18 years of age; universal

Legislative branch: 

unicameral National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional (167 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms; three seats reserved for the indigenous peoples of Venezuela) elections: last held 4 December 2005 (next to be held in 2010) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - pro-government 167 (MVR 114, PODEMOS 15, PPT 11, indigenous 2, other 25), opposition 0; total seats by party as of 16 December 2009 - pro-government 156 (PSUV 141, PPT 5, PCV 4, other 6), PODEMOS 6, FPH 5

Judicial branch: 

Supreme Tribunal of Justice or Tribuna Suprema de Justicia (32 magistrates are elected by the National Assembly for a single 12-year term)

Political parties and leaders : 

A New Time or UNT [Omar BARBOZA]; Brave People's Alliance or ABP [Oscar PEREZ]; Christian Democrats or COPEI [Luis Ignacio PLANAS]; Communist Party of Venezuela or PCV [Oscar FIGUERA]; Democratic Action or AD [Henry RAMOS Allup]; Fatherland for All or PPT [Jose ALBORNOZ]; For Social Democracy or PODEMOS [Ramon MARTINEZ]; Justice First [Julio BORGES]; Movement Toward Socialism or MAS [Felipe MUJICA]; United Socialist Party of Venezuela or PSUV [Hugo CHAVEZ]; Venezuela Project or PV [Henrique SALAS Romer]

Political pressure groups and leaders: 

FEDECAMARAS, a conservative business group; VECINOS groups; Venezuelan Confederation of Workers or CTV (labor organization dominated by the Democratic Action)

International organization participation: 

Caricom (observer), CDB, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA, LAS (observer), Mercosur (associate), MIGA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, PetroCaribe, RG, UN, UNASUR, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

Flag description: 

three equal horizontal bands of yellow (top), blue, and red with the coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band and an arc of eight white five-pointed stars centered in the blue band