The Venezuelan Senate was the upper house of Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

's legislative under its 1961 constitution. Under the 1999 constitution

Constitution of Venezuela

||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...

, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly of Venezuela

National Assembly of Venezuela

The National Assembly is the legislative branch of the Venezuelan government. It is a unicameral body made up of a variable number of members, who are elected by "universal, direct, personal, and secret" vote partly by direct election in state-based voting districts, and partly on a state-based...

.

In Venezula, lifetime Senate seats existed from 1961 to 1999. The former Presidents who held this position were: Rómulo Betancourt

Rómulo Betancourt

Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello , known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Accion Democratica, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century...

 (1964-1981), Raúl Leoni

Raúl Leoni

Raúl Leoni Otero was President of Venezuela from 1964 until 1969. He fought against the dictators Juan Vicente Gómez and Marcos Pérez Jiménez, and was a charter member of the Acción Democrática party....

 (1969-1972), Rafael Caldera

Rafael Caldera

Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez was president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999.Caldera taught sociology and law at various universities before entering politics. He was a founding member of COPEI, Venezuela's Christian Democratic party...

 (1974-1994, 1999), Carlos Andrés Pérez

Carlos Andrés Pérez

Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez , also known as CAP and often referred to as El Gocho , was a Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993. His first presidency was known as the Saudi Venezuela due to its economic and social prosperity thanks to...

 (1979-1989, 1994-1996), Luis Herrera Campins

Luis Herrera Campins

Luis Antonio Herrera Campins was President of Venezuela from 1979 to 1984. He was elected to one five-year term in 1978. He was a member of the COPEI party.- Early Life and career:...

 (1984-1999) and Jaime Lusinchi

Jaime Lusinchi

Jaime Ramón Lusinchi is a Venezuelan politician who was the President of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. His term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the External debt, populist policies, currency depreciation, inflation and corruption that exacerbated the crisis of the political...

 (1989-1999).

At the Senate's last election in 1998

Venezuelan parliamentary election, 1998

Parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela on 8 November 1998. Democratic Action won a plurality of seats, winning 61 of the 207 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 21 of the 54 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 54.5% in the Senate elections and 52.7% in the Chamber...

, it had 57 members.