CARACAS, Venezuela — The national legislature has not passed a law all year, and its members — those still willing to go through the motions of representative democracy — have on occasion struggled to come up with enough lawmakers to conduct any business.

Its administrative building is a wasteland of empty desks, inert computers and malaise. Hallways are cast in an ever-deepening dusk as light bulbs burn out and are not replaced for lack of money. The legislative information office, which prints documents for committees and outside groups, has no paper. Not that it matters much: The copy machines ran out of toner last summer.

These are grim days for the National Assembly of Venezuela.

The legislature, which has been led by the opposition since last year, was neutered over the summer when President Nicolás Maduro engineered the creation of a new lawmaking body composed entirely of his supporters, a move widely criticized in Venezuela and abroad as unconstitutional. The new entity, the Constituent Assembly, was formed to rewrite the Constitution, though its members quickly granted themselves wide-ranging authority to write and pass legislation, allowing the body to supersede the National Assembly.

The move produced the bizarre scenario of a nation with dueling legislatures: one with absolute power, the other with none. They both use the same wing of the 19th century Capitol for their sessions, although at different times of day to ensure no unpleasant encounters occur in the corridors.