General Assembly of Uruguay

History

In 1828, on the initiative of Juan Antonio Lavalleja, 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.

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

Main article: Legislative Library of 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, 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

References

1. (25 November 2013). "Cámara de Senadores {{!}} Parlamento".
2. "WebCite query result".
3. "Historia del Parlamento {{!}} Parlamento".
4. (30 April 2014). "Asamblea General {{!}} Parlamento".
5. (20 February 2013). "Cámara de Representantes {{!}} Parlamento".
6. (25 November 2013). "Cámara de Senadores {{!}} Parlamento".
7. "Constitución de la República Oriental del Uruguay".
8. "Biblioteca del Poder Legislativo".
9. (2019-05-25). "Biblioteca del Poder Legislativo celebra el Día Nacional del libro".
10. (27 May 2015). "Library of the Legislative Palace celebrates Book Day".