Only Venezuelan legislative has power to convene elections, argues OAS based on Venice Commission

The office of OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro released a statement with comments from the European Council Venice Commission on the legality of the Venezuelan presidency decree which was used to convene elections for a constituent assembly to modify the country´s main law.  The request to the Venice Commission was presented 26 June 2017 and on 21 July the preliminary opinion on the matter was issued with the following comments from Almagro. “Today I received the preliminary opinion from the diverse group made up of recognized independent experts in constitutional law and electoral issues from Spain, the Czech Republic, Finland, Peru and Mexico. ”Following an exhaustive legal analysis, the Venice Commission arrived at the following conclusions: “Only the Venezuelan people have the power to convene elections for the National Constituent Assembly through referenda. That is to say, the Executive branch does not have this power. More…