junio la Fiscal solicitó al TSJ antejuicio de mérito contra 6 magistrados principales y 2 suplentes por conspiración para atentar contra la forma republicana de la nación, delito tipificado en el artículo 132 del Código Penal, al mismo tiempo que solicitó a los magistrados acusados inhibirse de conocer de la causa de conformidad con los artículos 55, 56 y 57 de la LOTSJ. 2017 appointment and Supreme Tribunal of Justice in exile The discontent with the Bolivarian government saw the opposition being elected to hold the majority in the National Assembly of Venezuela for the first time since 1999 following the 2015 Parliamentary Election. As a result of that election, the lame duck National Assembly consisting of Bolivarian officials filled the Supreme Tribunal of Justice with their allies. Following months of unrest surrounding the recall referendum against President Maduro in 2016, on 29 March 2017 the Bolivarian Supreme Tribunal of Justice ruled that the National Assembly was "in a situation of contempt", because of the aforementioned rulings against the election of some of its members. It stripped the Assembly of legislative powers, and took those powers for itself; which meant that the Court would have been able to create laws. The court did not indicate if or when it might hand power back. As a result of the ruling, the 2017 Venezuelan protests began surrounding the constitutional crisis, with the Bolivarian Supreme Tribunal of Justice reversing its ruling on 1 April 2017. After being stripped of power during the constitutional crisis and the call for a rewriting of the constitution by the Bolivarian government, opposition-led National Assembly of Venezuela created a Judicial Nominations Committee on 13 June 2017 to elect new members of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. On 12 July 2017, Ombudsman Tarek Saab, head of the Moral Council of Venezuela, said that the call for new magistrates would not be officially recognized by the Bolivarian government and that the magistrates already appointed by the lame duck Bolivarian National Assembly would instead continue to be recognized. Despite the rejection of recognition by the Bolivarian government, the opposition-led National Assembly then voted 33 magistrates into office on 21 July 2017, separate from the Bolivarian government, forming the Supreme Tribunal of Justice in exile. 2018 opposition parties prohibition in presidential election On 23 January 2018, the Constituent National Assembly ordered the presidential elections should be scheduled in 2018 and before 30