Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly (ANC), facing upcoming expiration of its original two-year mandate, unanimously approved on Monday to extend its operation until the end of 2020.

The decision was made for "giving continuity to the work," "solidifying peace and our sacred right, as a nation-state, to be free to build a participative and protagonist model at our own pace," according to an ANC decree.

With the decree, the validity of the legislative assembly's functions was extended for almost a year and a half as the body was officially established on Aug. 4, 2017 and was supposed to work until August 2019.