Venezuelan general election, 1993

Venezuelan presidential election, 1993
Venezuela
December 5, 1993

 
Nominee Rafael Caldera Claudio Fermín Oswaldo Álvarez Paz
Party CVGV AD COPEI
Home state Yaracuy Barinas Zulia
States carried 9 7 4
Popular vote 1,710,722 1,326,287 1,276,506
Percentage 30.5% 23.6% 22.7%
President before election

Carlos Andrés Pérez
AD

 Elected President

Rafael Caldera
CVGV

Venezuela
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Venezuela

General elections were held in Venezuela on 5 December 1993.[1] The presidential elections were won by Rafael Caldera of National Convergence, who received 30.5% of the vote.[2] Democratic Action remained the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, which were elected on separate ballots for the first time.[3] Voter turnout was 60.2%, the lowest since World War II.[4]

Background

The election campaign was dominated by the corruption charges brought against sitting President Carlos Andrés Pérez, which led to his impeachment on 20 May 1993. He was replaced by Octavio Lepage as Acting President until Ramón José Velásquez was elected by Congress as interim President on 5 June. An atmosphere of economic and political crisis prevailed, with general economic problems compounded by a banking crisis, and a declining legitimacy of the traditional main parties, Democratic Action and Copei. The previous year had seen two coup attempts in February and November, reflecting widespread popular discontent with the political establishment.

Rafael Caldera, founder of Copei, rejected his old party and led a "National Convergence" of 17 smaller parties - including the Movement for Socialism, the Democratic Republican Union, the People's Electoral Movement and the Communist Party of Venezuela. His campaign promises included pardoning the 1992 coup plotters, including Hugo Chávez.

The Congressional elections were the first held under a mixed member proportional representation system,[5] modelled on the German system, with some variations.[6] The traditionally dominant Democratic Action and Copei "supported it because it looked the most like the system under which they had prospered".[5] The MMP system continued to use the old formula of assigning seats to states based on multiplying the total population by 0.55%, with a minimum of three deputies from each state (thus over-representing sparsely populated states).[5] Half each state's seats were then elected in single seat districts, and the remainder by closed party list. Parties could receive up to five additional seats based on their national vote total, to provide greater proportionality.[7]

Results

President

Candidate Party Votes %
Rafael CalderaNational Convergence1,710,72230.5
Claudio FermínDemocratic Action1,326,28723.6
Oswaldo Álvarez PazCopei1,276,50622.7
Andrés VelásquezRadical Cause1,232,65321.9
Modesto RiveroAuthentic Renewal Organisation20,8140.4
Nelso Ojeda ValenzuelaFPI18,6900.3
Luis Alberto MachadoRDLI6,8510.1
Fernando BiancoCEM5,5900.1
José Antonio CovaNew Democratic Generation4,9370.1
Gabriel Puerta AponteMovement for Popular Democracy3,7460.1
Rhona OtolinaFormula 13,6330.1
Romuló Abreu DuarteFEVO1,5540.0
Jesús TangNational Party1,2510.0
Blas García NúñezPEV1,1980.0
Juán ChacínPODIN9810.0
Carmen de GonzálezNationalist Civic Crusade8660.0
Felix Díaz OrtegaNew Order7800.0
Temistocles FernándezIT6400.0
Invalid/blank votes212,517–
Total5,829,216100
Registered voters/turnout9,688,79560.2
Source: Nohlen

Senate

Party Votes % Seats +/-
Democratic Action1,165,32224.116–6
Copei1,103,89622.814–6
Radical Cause1,005,81620.89+9
National Convergence650,35213.46New
Movement for Socialism526,19710.95–
Authentic Renewal Organisation41,1570.900
People's Electoral Movement26,5450.500
Democratic Republican Union25,7320.500
National Integration Movement23,4590.50New
Communist Party of Venezuela14,1590.300
Emerging People10,7090.20New
147 Other parties242,0005.00–
Invalid/blank votes989,169–––
Total5,829,21610050+4
Registered voters/turnout9,688,79546.3––
Source: Nohlen

Chamber of Deputies

Party Votes % Seats +/-
Democratic Action1,099,72823.355–42
Copei1,065,51222.653–14
Radical Cause974,19020.740+37
National Convergence651,91813.826New
Movement for Socialism509,06810.824–
Authentic Renewal Organisation41,0850.91–1
National Integration Movement29,4330.61New
People's Electoral Movement27,6350.61–1
Democratic Republican Union26,2990.61–1
Communist Party of Venezuela21,1800.40–1
Emerging People12,5250.30New
New Democratic Generation252,4715.41–5
154 other parties0–
Invalid/blank votes1,117,998–––
Total5,829,216100203+2
Registered voters/turnout9,688,79560.2––
Source: Nohlen
Popular vote
AD
  
 23.34%
COPEI
  
 22.62%
LCR
  
 20.68%
CVGV
  
 13.84%
MAS
  
 10.81%
Others
  
 8.72%
Seats
AD
  
 27.09%
COPEI
  
 26.11%
LCR
  
 19.70%
CVGV
  
 12.81%
MAS
  
 11.82%
Others
  
 2.46%

Aftermath

Andrés Velásquez of Radical Cause gained 22%, and "filed complaints of irregularities, saying that officials from his party were prevented from witnessing vote counting."[8]

References

  1. ↑ Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p555 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
  2. ↑ Nohlen, p582
  3. ↑ Nohlen, p575
  4. ↑ Nohlen, p556
  5. 1 2 3 Crisp, BF % Rey, JC (2003) "The Sources of Electoral Reform in Venezuela", in Shugart, Matthew Soberg, and Martin P. Wattenberg, Mixed-Member Electoral Systems - The Best of Both Worlds?, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. pp. 173-194(22)
  6. ↑ Crisp and Rey(2003:189)
  7. ↑ Crisp and Rey (2003:188)
  8. ↑ Venezuela Apparently Returns Former President to Power Los Angeles Times, 6 December 1993
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