On August 3, 1999, the National Constituent Assembly was installed in Venezuela, in an act carried out for the first time in the country, since it was in the Aula Magna of the Central University of Venezuela, and whose board of directors was presided over by Luis Miquilena, followed by Isaías Rodríguez and Aristóbulo Istúriz, as first and second vice-presidents. Thus began the legislative deliberations of the government, headed by the now eternal commander, Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, with whom the 40-year history of the so-called Punto Fijo Pact was brought to a close. This pact, which began on February 2, 1959, with the presidential mandate of Rómulo Betancourt, leader of Acción Democrática, was tasked with replacing it, along with his party and the other two members of the pact, Copei and URD, as well as the members of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), which held two senators and seven deputies elected on December 7, 1958. This National Constituent Assembly replaced the National Congress and the Constitution imposed by the dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez, which dated back to 1954. It should be noted that the Punto Fijo regime lasted 40 years (1959-1999), during which it left some 200.000 dead, more than 3.000 of whom disappeared.
The current Constitution of our Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the first to have been approved by referendum, which was held on December 15, 1999, and subsequently published in Official Gazette No. 36.860 on December 30 of the same year. Among its main characteristics, several structural elements stand out, most notably the division of public power into five branches. It maintained the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, and added the Citizen Power and the Electoral Power.
Later, on December 2, 2007, a constitutional referendum was held to consult the people on reforming the 1999 Constitution through two questions. The Venezuelan electorate rejected the first question. The second question was approved. On February 15, 2009, a referendum was held, and the first amendment to Articles 160, 162, 174, 192, and 230 was approved, with the sole purpose of allowing the immediate reelection of any popularly elected official indefinitely, including president, governor, mayor, council member, deputy, and university rector. These actions were taken after Chávez's inauguration and swearing-in, and all these changes were attributed to him in order to consolidate democracy.
