2017.07.2319:34:00UTC+00VENEZUELA: Opposition-controlled Parliament Names Parallel Supreme Court

The opposition-controlled Venezuelan Parliament appointed 33 new judges to form a parallel Supreme Court, dismissing the current Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), amid an offensive to force President Nicol?s Maduro to suspend the election of a Constituent Assembly scheduled for July 30.

Ruling party representatives boycotted the session, and the opposition lawmakers unanimously passed the appointment.

By the end of 2015, Congress - then dominated by the ruling party - nominated 13 chief magistrates and 20 substitute members of the Supreme Court in a process criticized by the opposition as a "vitiated and hurried" move just days before the opposition took over the majority by winning the parliamentarian election.

Meanwhile, last night the TSJ warned the new judges that they could be imprisoned for "usurpation of functions" and clarified that they declared void the process of appointing the new judges.

This appointment comes in the middle of the so-called "Zero Hour," an initiative in which the opposition intends to increase pressure on the government and halt the National Constituent Assembly vote.