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Venezuela Local Government
The 1961 constitution provides for a federal republic
of
twenty states, two federal territories, the federal
district, and
seventy-two island dependencies. Each state contains two
levels
of government, the district and the municipal level. There
are
202 districts in the country, between 6 and 16 in each
state.
Districts are divided into municipalities and are
constitutionally independent of the state in economic and
administrative matters, subject only to national laws and
regulations.
Local government was not strong in Venezuela, and it
can be
argued that Venezuelans gave greater loyalty to their
states than
to their local government bodies. The 1961 constitution
delegates
the establishment of municipalities and other local
entities to
the states. The municipalities elect their own officials
and may
collect certain revenues, but they are subject to numerous
legal,
financial, and political limitations imposed by national
officials.
The powers of the states are restricted to those areas
not
granted to the nation or the municipalities. The states
are
permitted to merge, cede territory, or change their
boundaries
with the consent of the Senate. Although it had not done
so
through 1990, the national Congress may, by a two-thirds
vote,
expand the powers of the states to include matters
previously
limited to the consideration of the central government.
The
states have also remained dependent on the national
government
for most of their revenue.
In 1990 the direct election of governors was still too
recent
to indicate to what extent the state executives, now with
their
own political basis, would be able to exert greater
authority
than they did as appointed officials. In any case, the
governor's
powers derive from his or her control of the state's law
enforcement machinery, the drafting of the state's budget
(which
is submitted to the state legislature), and the execution
of the
directives of the national executive. Unicameral state
legislative assemblies are popularly elected and exercise
limited
powers.
States are divided into districts, the number of
districts
depending on the size of the state. Districts are governed
by
popularly elected councils; elections for council members
take
place at the same time as those for national officials.
Like all
popularly elected officials, council members serve
five-year
terms. The number of council members varies, but all
councils are
presided over by a chairman, who serves in that position
for a
one-year term. The district councils have limited
decision-making
powers regarding such matters as the distribution of
national
funds channeled through the state executives. The councils
are
charged with providing the local services not provided by
the
national government.
The districts are divided into municipalities, which
are also
governed by elected councils. The municipal councils have
no
decision-making powers and serve as administrative units
in
charge of garbage collection, sewer construction, and
other
municipal services. The councils also provide information
about
local politics to the district council and serve as
advocates for
local citizens with the national bureaucracy. In
Venezuela,
however, links between local citizens and the national
government
have often been more effectively established by the
political
parties and informally rather than by the local
bureaucracy.
These links between local citizens and the national
government might have to be redefined, however, after the
Democratic Action (Acción Democrática--AD) party's major
defeat
in the December 1989 local elections. These elections were
particularly significant because, for the first time, they
involved the elections of mayors (a position that
previously did
not exist) as well as 20 state governors. Another
innovation in
these elections allowed voters to cast their ballots
directly for
the municipal councilors of their choice if they preferred
this
to the traditional system of voting according to party
slates.
President Pérez's AD lost gubernatorial elections in
nine key
states, including oil-producing Zulia, the industrial
state of
Carabobo, and the state of Miranda. The opposition made
similar
inroads at the municipal level, with 95 of the mayoral
posts won
by COPEI and 24 by other parties, as compared with AD's
150. The
immediate result of these electoral setbacks was a renewed
and
more vocal discussion about the degree to which states
should be
able to manage their own financial resources.
Data as of December 1990
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