Definition of Constituent Assembly

A Constituent Assembly is made up of citizens organized in political formations with the intention of launching a Constitution national, that is, a law that encompasses the norms and principles that should govern a nation. As a general criterion, the citizens who are part of the Constituent Assembly have been previously elected by the people through an electoral process. Consequently, these citizens represent the general will and constitute the legislative power. In this sense, the concept of a Constituent Assembly must be understood as the germ of a democratic system.

The first Constituent Assembly

From a historical point of view, the first Constituent Assembly was formed after the French Revolution of 1789 and was the prelude to the French Constitution. At the same time, the Constituent Assembly is the general model that inspired European and Latin American democracies from the 19th century on.

In political terms, the French National Assembly had a great impact on all orders: it marked the end of the feudal model and the abolition of social privileges and the beginning of the

democracy as we understand it today. On the other hand, the composition of the French National Assembly started a tradition that is still maintained in most parliaments: the difference between left and right.

The road to a Constitution

The first step towards the first Constitution was the elaboration of some general principles that should govern life in society, which is known as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which are a set of universal principles. This document served as a reference for the French Constitution of 1793, in which two basic principles for democracy were highlighted: popular sovereignty and universal suffrage.

Fundamental elements in the constituent processes

The drafting of a national Constitution implies a prior constituent process. Some of the common characteristics in most processes are the following:

- It is a process that is not imposed by force by a group, but is motivated by consensus between the different political groups.

- For the Constitution to be representative of the popular will, there must be a broad participation popular in the elections prior to the Constituent Assembly.

- The final approval of the new Constitution has to be done through a popular consultation, normally a referendum.

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Issues in Constituent Assembly