Editing Elections in Venezuela (section)

===1811–1889: First congress and presidents===
On 18 April 1810, agents of the [[Spain|Spanish Regency]] arrived in the city of [[Caracas]]. After considerable political tumult, the local nobility announced an extraordinary open hearing of the ''[[Cabildo (council)|cabildo]]'' (the municipal council) on 19 April. On that day, an expanded municipal government of Caracas took power in the name of [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]], calling itself [[Supreme Junta|The Supreme Junta to Preserve the Rights of Ferdinand VII]]. The Caracas Junta called for the convention of a congress of the Venezuelan provinces which began meeting the following March, at which time the Junta dissolved itself.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} [[Francisco de Miranda]] was elected to the Congress and began agitating for independence.<ref name="independceeclected"/>

[[File:Juan Lovera 2012 007.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Cristóbal Mendoza]], first president of the [[First Republic of Venezuela]], took office on  July 5, 1811. All three initial presidents had been signatories on the [[Venezuelan Declaration of Independence]].<ref name="weekly_Term_presidents"/>]]

In March 1811 during the [[Spanish American wars of independence]], the first Venezuelan constitutional congress established the executive power a [[triumvirate]] in which three men shared executive power and rotated the presidency every week. [[Cristóbal Mendoza]] became a member of the triumvirate that headed the [[First Republic of Venezuela]] and was unanimously elected by the other two as the first to go in rotation on 5 March 1811. Mendoza was author of the [[Venezuelan Declaration of Independence]],<ref name="Diccionario_Historia"/> formally issued on 5 July 1811,<ref name="independceeclected">In Spanish: [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/04476838628769323836591/p0000001.htm Venezuelan Declaration of Independence], Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes</ref><ref name="Diccionario_Historia"/> on which date the presidential designation also took effect.<ref name="weekly_Term_presidents"/> The first Constitution of the Republic of Venezuela was designed in December 1811.<ref name="Diccionario_Historia">Briceño Perozo, Mario. "Mendoza, Cristóbal de" in ''Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela'', Vol. 3. Caracas: Fundación Polar, 1999. {{ISBN|980-6397-37-1}}</ref> The Congress established a [[Confederation]] called the United States of Venezuela in the Constitution, crafted mostly by lawyer [[Juan Germán Roscio]], that it ratified on 21 December 1811. The Constitution created a strong [[Bicameralism|bicameral legislature]] and, as also happened in neighboring [[United Provinces of New Granada|New Granada]], the Congress kept the weak executive consisting of a triumvirate.<ref>In Spanish: [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/02461621981246052976613/index.htm Federal Constitution of 1811] Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. The Constitution uses ''la Confederación'' and ''los Estados Unidos de Venezuela'' interchangeably.</ref>

A second [[triumvirate]] followed on April 3, 1812.<ref name="weekly_Term_presidents">{{in lang|es}} {{cite web|title=Presidentes de Venezuela|url=http://www.consulvenbucaramanga.com/presidentes.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20100801095731/http://www.consulvenbucaramanga.com/presidentes.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-08-01|publisher=Consulado General de Bucaramanga}}</ref><ref>Briceño Perozo, Mario. "Mendoza, Cristóbal de" in ''Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela'', Vol. 3. Caracas: Fundación Polar, 1999. {{ISBN|978-980-6397-37-8}}.</ref> The presidency was disestablished in 1813, when [[Simon Bolivar]] established the [[Third Republic of Venezuela]] (1817–1819). In 1830, [[José Antonio Páez]] declared Venezuela independent from [[Gran Colombia]] and became president, taking office on January 13, 1830. Presidents of Venezuela who served under the 1864 constitution (starting with [[Juan Crisóstomo Falcón]]) bore the title of "President of the Union", instead of the usual "President of the Republic" still used today. Aside from that, all heads of state of the country since 1811 have held the title of "President of Venezuela."