CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s opposition took majority control of the National Assembly on Tuesday after years in the political wilderness, setting the stage for a potential power struggle with President Nicolas Maduro.

Lawmakers were sworn in during a heated parliamentary session that saw progovernment representatives walk out in protest after pushing and shoving their way onto the dais as the new leadership laid out its legislative agenda.

It’s the first time in 17 years that the opposition to the socialist revolution begun by the late President Hugo Chavez has controlled the legislature, and many of its leaders seemed rapt in disbelief.

The opposition won a two-thirds majority last month, giving it unprecedented strength to challenge Maduro’s rule. That dominance, however, has been in doubt after a government-stacked Supreme Court barred four lawmakers from taking their seats while it probes allegations of electoral fraud. As a result, only 163 of 167 lawmakers were sworn in during Tuesday’s ceremony.

Opposition lawmakers promise sweeping changes, while the socialists have been equally adamant that the legislature not erode social gains of Chavez’s revolution.

Incoming parliamentary president Henry Ramos said a six-month deadline to remove Maduro by constitutional means is not negotiable.

Associated Press