The
Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the current and twenty-sixth
constitution of
Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constitutional assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December 1999, it replaced the 1961 Constitution, the longest-serving in Venezuelan history. It was primarily promoted by former
President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and thereafter received strong backing from diverse sectors, including figures involved in promulgating the 1961 constitution such as
Luis Miquilena and
Carlos Andrés Pérez. Chávez and his followers (
chavistas) refer to the 1999 document as the "Constitución Bolivariana" (the "Bolivarian Constitution") because they assert that it is ideologically descended from the thinking and political philosophy of
Simón Bolívar and
Bolivarianism.