Abstract: Recent electoral reform in Venezuela, including the adoption of a mixed-member proportional (MMP) system, has occurred in the context of crisis. Recounts the history leading from the situation of an extreme electoral system with a very dominant party leadership (a hyper-centralized system) to the adoption of the MMP system in 1993—in which it was hoped that legislators would be more accountable to voters in the newly created single-seat geographic constituencies; the system adopted is described as the result of compromise. The first section describes the electoral system and how it has evolved, emphasizing issues of ‘electoral efficiency’. The next section analyzes the reform process and the role/motivations of various actors in the move to an MMP system. With these historical data in hand, the chapter concludes by putting the system for electing congress in the context of wider systemic, institutional issues.

Keywords: electoral history, electoral reform, electoral systems, extreme electoral systems, hyper-centralized systems, mixed-member electoral systems, mixed-member proportional systems, single-seat districts, Venezuela,