The General Assembly of Uruguay ( es, Asamblea General de Uruguay) is the

legislative branch A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

of the government of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, and consists of two chambers: the Chamber of Senators and the Chamber of Representatives. General Assembly has 130 voting members: 99 representatives and 30 senators, the Vice President of the Republic, who serves as President of the General Assembly, and the Senate has the right to vote. The legislature meets in the Legislative Palace in Montevideo. Both senators and representatives are chosen through

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

for five-year terms. The General Assembly holds its sessions in the Chamber of Representatives of the Legislative Palace. During the 19th century, the legislature met in the Montevideo Cabildo.

History

In 1828, on the initiative of

Juan Antonio Lavalleja Juan Antonio Lavalleja (June 24, 1784 – October 22, 1853) was a Uruguayan revolutionary and political figure. He was born in Minas, nowadays being located in the Lavalleja Department, which was named after him. Pre-Independence role He l ...

, delegates were elected to what was to be the Parliament of the Eastern Province of Río de la Plata. As a consequence of the Treaty of Montevideo, such institution became the General Constituent and Legislative Assembly of the State, and had among other tasks the drafting of the country's first

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. The Assembly was unicameral. But since the establishment of the Constitution in 1830, the Uruguayan Parliament became bicameral, and has remained so to this day. The voting system of its members also changed: during the 19th century, voting was reserved for a minority, and senators represented departments. Later, the secret and universal vote was established, and the representativeness of the senators, who are elected at the national level, was reformulated.

Attributes

The ordinary sessions span is from March 1 to December 15, or until September 15 in the event that elections are held, since the new Assembly must begin its sessions on February 15 of the following year. Article Ninety of the Uruguayan Constitution requires that members of the Chamber of Representatives must be aged at least 25 and have been a citizen of Uruguay for five years. While Article Ninety-eight requires that the members of the Senate must be at least 30 years old and have been Uruguayan citizens for seven years. The General Assembly is entitled to politically judge the conduct of the Ministers of State, to declare war and to approve or reject peace treaties, alliances, commerce, and conventions or contracts of any nature that the Executive Power enters into with foreign powers and designate every year the necessary armed force, as well as allowing foreign troops to enter the country. Denying or granting the departure of national forces outside the nation is also among the functions of the Assembly. The creation of new Departments, the setting of their limits, as well as the establishment of customs and export and import duties concern the legislative power, in addition to other functions established in Article Eighty-Five of the Constitution.

Latest elections

Library of the Legislative Power

Biblioteca del Poder Legislativo de Uruguay

The Library of the Legislative Power of Uruguay is a specialized institution whose main objective is to assist Uruguayan legislators and the cultural development of the community in the fulfillment of its functions, in order to provide documentation, information and advice to citizens, thanks to extensive bibliographic, jurisprudential, doctrinal and legislative collection. It is considered the second most important library in Uruguay, behind the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...

, due to the large collection and the status of parliamentary and public library. The current library was founded on August 25, 1929 and has its origin in the unification of the libraries of the Chamber of Representatives and the Chamber of Senators.

Gallery

File:Senado ojopez.jpg, Senate File:CamaradiputadosPL.jpg, Chamber of Representatives

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:General Assembly Of Uruguay

Politics of Uruguay