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A working session in the National Assembly, January 9, 2018, in Caracas. REUTERS / Marco Bello

It was just a year ago: a National Constituent Assembly (NCA) was elected in Venezuela. This institution, whose legitimacy is recognized neither by the opposition nor by the international organizations, has an almost unlimited power.

• What is a constituant ?

This institution is provided for in Article 347 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of 1999. This Assembly, convened by the people, aims to draft a new Constitution. On May 1, 2017, President Nicolas Maduro convened this Constituent Assembly, not the people, which the opposition sees as usurpation.

• Why set up such a Constituent Assembly?

Venezuela had become ungovernable. By the end of 2016, the opposition won three quarters of the seats in the National Assembly. If the legislative power was therefore in the hands of the opposition, the executive and the judiciary were dominated by the PSUV, the ruling Chavist party. Tensions increased until major anti-government demonstrations from April to July 2017. The opposition then managed to organize a recalling referendum against President Maduro. But it will not be followed by effect.

Nicolas Maduro summons this Constituent to officially come out of the crisis. But the opposition denounces a masquerade and boycots the poll. As a result, the 545 members of this Constituent Assembly - almost all from civil society - all belong to the Chavist camp. This leads many Western countries and the countries of the Organization of American States not to recognize it. The Chavists, on the contrary, believe that this "People's Assembly" is the perfect expression of democracy.

• What has this ANC done for a year?

No draft law has yet been presented by the ANC, but the ANC has given itself two years. Its members, divided into commissions, work on different points of the text. Asked by the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal , one of its members, MP Earle Herrera, said a project will be presented "before the end of the year."

In parallel, the ANC seized the powers of the opposition-dominated Assembly since the end of 2016. The latter still exists, but no longer has any power, and its website is no longer accessible. One of the most immediate tasks of the ANC is therefore to approve the laws presented by the executive. For example, the ANC validated the law on cryptocurrency and Petro . Recently, President Nicolas Maduro also asked this House to give more flexibility to exchange control.

• An Assembly with unlimited powers?

The ANC is a supra-constitutional decision-making body, its powers are almost unlimited . Even President Nicolas Maduro assures to submit to this Constituent Assembly and took an oath before it after his reelection in May.

The ANC has also legislated to silence discordant voices. As soon as she came to power, she dismissed Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz . It has also launched a commission to investigate " hate crimes " committed during anti-government protests. For his new president, Diosdado Cabello, number 2 of the PSUV, the main achievement of the ANC is to have restored order.

# ANC1AñoDeVictoriaPopular el 30 de Julio de 2017, quedará marcado en nuestra historia como el día de la insurgencia del Poder Constituyente Originario contra the violencia terrorista opositora, the ANC vino con su fuerza popular impunity la Paz. Nosotros Venceremos !!!

Diosdado Cabello R (@dcabellor) July 30, 2018

" A year of popular victory! July 30, 2017 will remain etched in our history as the day of the uprising of the original constituent power against the terrorist violence of the opposition. The ANC restored peace through the strength of the people. We will vanquish ! "

Diosdado Cabello, who represents the hard wing of Chavismo, announced the creation of another commission to investigate those who call for external military intervention. " They must be treated as enemies of the nation, " he said. His arrival at the head of the ANC last month is considered by several observers as a demonstration of the authoritarian orientation taken by this Assembly.