Venezuela flag Venezuela: Economic and Political Overview

The political framework of Venezuela

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders
President: Nicolás Maduro (since 19 April, 2013)
Executive Vice President: Delcy Rodriguez Gomez (since 18 June, 2018)
Next Election Dates
Presidential: 2024
National Assembly: December 2025
Main Political Parties
Venezuela has a multi-party system, where single parties rarely have the opportunity to secure power alone. Therefore, parties generally work together to form coalition governments. Yet, the Government also attempts to restrict the power of opposition groups and its allies. The government parties in the country are:

- United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV): left-wing, socialist, maintains an overwhelming majority in the parliament
- Fatherland for All (PPT): left-wing, democratic socialist, libertarian Marxist
- Revolutionary Movement Tupamaro (MRT): far-left, communist, Marxist-Leninist, Guevarist
- Movement We Are Venezuela (MSV): left-wing, Chavista, socialist, anti-imperialism
- For Social Democracy (PODEMOS): centre-left to left-wing, social democratic
- Alliance for Change (APC): centre-left, social democratic, democratic socialist
- People's Electoral Movement (MEP): left-wing, socialist, nationalist
- Authentic Renewal Organisation (ORA): syncretic politics, Christian socialist, evangelical, conservative
- Venezuelan Popular Unity (UPV): left-wing, Bolivarian, communist, socialist.

Other parties include:
- Justice First (PJ): centre to centre-left, progressivism and humanism
- Democratic Action (AD): centre-left, social democracy, Venezuelan democracy
- Hope for Change (El Cambio):  centre, Christian democracy
- A New Era (UNT): centre-left, social democracy, reformism
- Popular Will (VP): centre-left, big tent, social democracy, market liberalism
- Radical Cause (LCR): centre-left, labourism, democratic socialism
- Progressive Advance (AP): centre-left, social democracy, progressivism, federalism
- Project Venezuela (ProVen): centre-right, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism
- Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV): far-left, fuelled by Marxist–Leninist ideals.

Executive Power
The President is both the Chief of State and the Head of the Government, and is elected by popular vote for a six-year term, renewable indefinitely. The President has executive power, appoints the Vice-President, decides on the size and composition of the cabinet, and makes appointments to it with the involvement of the parliament.
Legislative Power
The legislature is unicameral in Venezuela. The parliament, called the National Assembly, is made up of a variable number of members (277 seats currently) elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. Three seats are reserved for the indigenous peoples of Venezuela. Legislative power is vested only in the National Assembly. The President has the power to veto acts of the National Assembly which, in turn, a simple majority of the Assembly can override. However, the President can also dissolve the National Assembly under certain conditions.
 

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

Definition:

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:
148/180
 

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:
Partly Free
Political Freedom:
7/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

 

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Latest Update: March 2024

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