The Chamber of Deputies () was the lower house of Venezuela's legislative under its 1961 constitution; the Venezuelan Senate was the upper house. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly of Venezuela.
At the 1993 Venezuelan parliamentary election, the Chamber saw the introduction of a mixed member proportional representation system, modelled on the German system, with some variations.Crisp and Rey(2003:189) This replaced the previous "closed-list proportional representation system [which had] led to an extremely party-centered system."Crisp and Rey (2003: 192) The traditionally dominant Democratic Action and COPEI "supported it because it looked the most like the system under which they had prospered".Crisp, Brian F. and Rey, Juan Carlos (2003), "The Sources of Electoral Reform in Venezuela", in Shugart, Matthew Soberg, and Martin P. Wattenberg, Mixed-Member Electoral Systems – The Best of Both Worlds?, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. pp. 173–194(22)
"Seats for the Chamber of Deputies were allocated to each state on the basis of its population. Since 1970 a number of citizens equal to 0.55% of the population is entitled to a deputy, but since 1993 no state can have fewer than three deputies. A quota for additional seats in the Chamber of Deputies is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast by the number of deputies determined by the size of the population. The number of votes received by each party nationally for deputies is divided by this result, and the difference between the seats already won and this final result is the number of additional seats awarded to the party. As in the Senate, there has always been a limit to the total number of additional seats any given party can receive. (Since 1980 no party has been allowed more than five additional seats in the Chamber of Deputies.)"Crisp and Rey(2003:175)
At the Chamber's last election in 1998, it had 207 members.
Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies PresidentTenurePartyRafael Caldera1959–1962COPEIManuel Vicente Ledezma1962Acción DemocráticaIgnacio Luis Arcaya1962–1964Democratic Republican UnionHéctor Santaella1964–1965Democratic Republican UnionAlirio Ugarte Pelayo1965–1966Democratic Republican UnionDionisio López Orihuela1966–1967Democratic Republican UnionEnrique Betancourt y Galindez1967–1968Democratic Republican UnionCésar Rondón Lovera1968–1969Acción DemocráticaJorge Dáger1969–1970Acción DemocráticaAntonio Léidenz1970–1974Acción DemocráticaGonzalo Ramírez Cubillán1974–1975COPEIOswaldo Álvarez Paz1975–1979COPEICarlos Canache Mata1979–1982Acción DemocráticaArmando Sánchez Bueno1982–1983Acción DemocráticaLeonardo Ferrer1984–1987COPEIJosé Rodríguez Iturbe1987-1990COPEILuis Enrique Oberto1990-1994COPEICarmelo Lauría1994-1996Acción DemocráticaRamón Guillermo Aveledo1996–1998COPEIIxora Rojas1998–1999Acción DemocráticaHenrique Capriles1999COPEI
Historical composition TotalSeats 1958 7 73 34 18 132 196316 66 29 39 22 7 179 1968 2510 66 18 59 21 15 214 1973 89 102 5 64 7 5 200 197811 88 84 16 199 198310 113 60 17 200 198818 97 67 19 201 199324 40 55 26 53 5 203 1998 4617 62 20 28 34 207
See also National Assembly (Venezuela), Unicameral legislature of Venezuela since 2000 Senate of Venezuela, Upper house of Venezuela 1961–1999
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