| Venezuela |
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The politics of Venezuela occurs in a framework explained in Government of Venezuela.
There are currently two major blocs of political parties in Venezuela: the incumbent leftist bloc United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), its major allies Fatherland for All (PPT) and the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), and the opposition bloc led by A New Era (UNT) together with its allied parties Project Venezuela, Justice First, Movement for Socialism (Venezuela) and others. Following the fall of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in 1958, Venezuelan politics was dominated by the third-way Christian democratic COPEI and the center-left social democratic Democratic Action (AD) parties; this two-party system was formalized by the puntofijismo arrangement. However, this system has been sidelined following the initial 1998 election of current president Hugo Chávez, which started the Bolivarian Revolution.
Chavez has also established alliances with several Latin American countries which have elected leftist governments, such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Paraguay. Evident in the strong ties it shares with Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras and Nicaragua in the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas .
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The Marcos Pérez Jiménez government fell in 23 January 1958, ending the last dictatorship of the 20th century in Venezuela and spawning a democratic period. The country adopted a new constitution in 1961. Two political parties prevailed during the following decades: the social democratic Democratic Action (AD) and the Christian democratic COPEI during the period known as the fourth republic. This system came to an end during the 1998 election when current president Hugo Chávez won thus beginning the fifth Republic and the left-wing Bolivarian Revolution.
Most of the political opposition boycotted the 2005 parliamentary election. Consequently, the MVR-led bloc secured all 167 seats in the National Assembly. Then, the MVR voted to dissolve itself in favor of joining the proposed United Socialist Party of Venezuela, while Chávez requested that MVR-allied parties merge themselves into it as well. The National Assembly has twice voted to grant Chávez the ability rule by decree in several broadly defined areas, once in 2000 and again in 2007. This power has been granted to previous administrations as well.[1][2][3]
In 2008, the government expelled the US-based Human Rights Watch,[4] which was criticizing the government Human rights record.
There is a history of tension between church and state in the country. The Catholic Church has accused Chavez of concentrating power in his own hands. In its 2009 Easter address to the nation, the bishops said the country's democracy was in "serious danger of collapse."[5]
In 2009, when an opposition mayor was elected in Caracas, the capital, the government gave control of his budget to an appointed official.[6]
Venezuela abolished the death penalty in 1863, making it the country where this practice has been outlawed the longest.[7][8]
Hugo Chávez Frias was first elected Venezuelan president in 1998. He took office 2 February 1999.
| Candidates - parties | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hugo Chávez - Fifth Republic Movement | 3,673,685 | 56.20 | |
| Henrique Salas Römer - Project Venezuela | 2,613,161 | 39.97 | |
| Irene Sáez - IRENE | 184,568 | 2.82 | |
| Luis Alfaro Ucero - ORA | 27,586 | 0.42 | |
| Others | 38,304 | 0.59 | |
| Total (turnout 54.0%) | 6,537,304 | 100.00 | |
| Source: | |||
With 32,472 electoral tally sheets processed (98.29%), the 12 December 2006 partial report from the CNE showed the following results:
| Candidates | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Hugo Chávez (Fifth Republic Movement) | 7,309,080 | 62.84% |
| Manuel Rosales (A New Era) | 4,292,466 | 36.9% |
| Luis Reyes | 4,807 | 0.04% |
| Venezuela Da Silva | 3,980 | 0.03% |
| Carmelo Romano Pérez | 3,735 | 0.03% |
| Alejandro Suárez | 2,956 | 0.02% |
| Eudes Vera | 2,806 | 0.02% |
| Carolina Contreras | 2,169 | 0.01% |
| Pedro Aranguren | 2,064 | 0.01% |
| José Tineo | 1,502 | 0.01% |
| Yudith Salazar | 1,355 | 0.01% |
| Ángel Yrigoyen | 1,316 | 0.01% |
| Homer Rodríguez | 1,123 | 0% |
| Isbelia León | 793 | 0% |
| Total (Turnout 74.69 %) | 11,790,397 | 100.0 |
| Source: CNE:[9] null votes: 160,245 (1.35% of all votes) | ||
Turnout: 11,729,158 voters (74.75% of the registered to vote), null votes: 159,377 (1.35% of all votes).
The elections for the National Assembly elections were last held on 4 December 2005.
The majority of anti-Chavez parties boycotted the election. The parties gaining more than two seats were (parties not listed gained a total of 10 seats, see Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2005):
| Parties | Votes for List | % | Seats (From list and nominal) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fifth Republic Movement (Movimiento V [Quinta] República) | 2,041,293 | 60.0 | 116 |
| For Social Democracy (Por la Democracia Social) | 277,482 | 8.2 | 18 |
| Fatherland for All (Patria para Todos) | 197,459 | 6.8 | 10 |
| Communist Party of Venezuela (Partido Comunista de Venezuela) | 94,606 | 2.7 | 7 |
| Registered Voters | 14,272,964 | - | |
| Votes Cast (% of registered voters) | 3,604,741 | 25.26 | |
| Valid Votes (% of votes cast) | 3,398,567 | 94.28 | |
| Invalid Votes (% of votes cast) | 206,174 | 5.72 | |
| Abstention (% of registered voters) | 10,668,223 | 74.74 | |
| Source regarding number of votes CNE site and seats from National Assembly's one. | |||
On 23 November 2008 the ruling political party, PSUV, won the elections in 18 out of the 23 states and over 80% of the municipalities, including the Libertador Municipality of Caracas. The opposition block gained five states alongside the Metropolitan District of Caracas.
On 15 February 2009 a referendum lifting term limits for the President, governors, mayors and deputies was approved by 55% of the electorate in which the 70% of registered voters participated.[11]
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