National Communal Parliament
The National Communal Parliament is the superior level for deliberation and representation of the Communes. Formed by 168 communal parliamentarians, its constitution was written at the end of 2015. Since its founding, it has been convened in different states of the country in the form of open forums that invite the population to debates with representatives of the Communes. Its creation is part of the "Communal State" project initiated by President Hugo Chavez. This model builds on different participatory institutions, which should serve as forms of self-government to the citizenry and, in this sense, if the Communes function as participatory instances of representation and deliberation above the Communal Councils, the National Communal Parliament stands as an entity superior to the Communes, with deliberative and legislative functions. Its announcement generated great controversy in the country, since the opposition considered it an attempt to supplant the legislative functions of the National Assembly, whereas the Government of Nicolás Maduro defended its legality as an instance of participation recognized in the Constitution and part of the reforms aimed at deepening the communal state model. Isis Ochoa, the Minister of Popular Power for the Communes and Social Movements, considered it a tool of participation in the legislative branch. At the same time, the Communal Parliament can approve laws that are submitted to consideration by the Executive and Legislative branch, as well as design, plan and carry out public policies.
Institutional design
Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?
Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?
Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?
Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?
Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?
Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?
- Formalization
- embedded in the constitution/legislation
- Frequency
- regular
- Mode of selection of participants
- restricted
- Type of participants
- citizens
- Decisiveness
- democratic innovation yields a non-binding decision
- Co-Governance
- no
Means
|
Ends
|
