8 Indigenous Members to Join Venezuela's Constituent Assembly

Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly will include eight representatives of Indigenous groups in the country, joining over 500 other members representing regions and social sectors to rewrite the country's 1999 Constitution.

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The Indigenous representatives will be elected through 3,473 local assemblies held in different territories across the country in a process that aligns with local cultures, traditions and customs.

The registration process for individuals hoping to seek the position began on Monday and will continue until June 30. Meanwhile, candidates looking to secure a nomination for regional and sectoral seats began a signature drive this week to complete their registration.

The national Constituent Assembly will be made up of 545 members, with 364 representing regions and another 181 representing various social sectors — workers, farmers, people with disabilities, students, retirees, the business sector and communes and communal councils.

"I convoke a citizens' Constituent Assembly, not a Constituent Assembly of parties or elites," Maduro said when he called for the process last month. "A citizen's, workers', communal, campesinos' Constituent Assembly. A feminist, youth, students' Constituent Assembly. An Indigenous Constituent Assembly."

Maduro has said that the candidates who are not elected as constituents will be able to form an advisory committee to address technical and political matters within the constituent process in the Assembly.

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The president also has promised that the new Constitution created by the Constituent Assembly will be approved by voters through a referendum.

The Constituent Assembly, whose representatives are expected to be elected on July 30, according to the country's electoral authority, comes as government and opposition supporters continue an ongoing wave of opposing marches. Right-wing protests, which have increasingly spilled over into violence, have been aimed at forcing Maduro out of office and demanding new elections in the South American country since they began at the beginning of April.

Maduro called the Constituent Assembly to promote a democratic solution to high-running political tensions and to bring proposals to the table from all sides.

The right-wing opposition has continued to reject the Constituent Assembly and instead support more violent protests in the country.

Last week, the head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Julio Borges, said street marches will continue and that they will not allow the Constituent Assembly process to move forward.