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2008 Venezuelan regional elections

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Turnout	65.45%
Alliance GPPSB MUD Popular vote 5,758,494 4,623,051 Percentage 52.1% 41.82%
Red denotes states won by the Great Patriotic Pole. Blue denotes those won by the Coalition for Democratic Unity.

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Regional elections were held in Venezuela on 23 November 2008 to choose 22 governors and 2 metropolitan mayors. The candidates were selected for a term beginning in 2008 and ending in 2012, when the next regional elections will be held. The 2008 regional elections were the second during the government of Hugo Chávez Frías and the first since he founded the United Socialist Party.

The government of the state of Amazonas and nine municipalities were not chosen in this elections because they had been elected after the 2004 regional elections. The Venezuelan opposition managed to attain the metropolitan municipality of Caracas, won by candidate Antonio Ledezma, as well as five state governments; the United Socialist Party, meanwhile, won seventeen.

Henrique Capriles Radonski, the former mayor of the Baruta municipality, became the governor of Miranda, defeating the incumbent, Diosdado Cabello. Adán Chávez, president Hugo Chavéz's brother, became the governor of Barinas. In Carabobo, Henrique Salas Feo, the son of former presidential candidate Henrique Salas Römer, defeated his opponent Mario Silva to become the governor. Pablo Pérez Álvarez became the governor Zulia; he succeeded Manuel Rosales, who had governed from 2000 until 2008 and was a presidential candidate in 2006.

Background

After losing the 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum, the opposition became determined to participate in the 2008 elections. Prior to the elections, the General Comptroller, a Chávez ally, banned almost 300 candidates who had been accused of corruption without making formal charges. Leopoldo López, a rising figure within the opposition who raised fears among the Chávez administration, was one of the hundreds of candidates barred from holding office. The Supreme Tribunal later ratified the bans and removed the candidates from the process.

In early January 2008, some opposition political parties expressed their willingness to sign a unitary agreement to run in the regional elections of November of that year. On 23 January, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the return of democracy to Venezuela, the coalition of National Unity (later known as the Democratic Unity Roundtable) was created, formed by the political parties A New Era (UNT), Justice First (PJ), Democratic Action (AD), Copei, Movement For Socialism (MAS), Radical Cause, Project Venezuela (PRVZL), Fearless People's Alliance (ABP) and Popular Vanguard (VP), reached an agreement committing to present joint candidates in all the states and municipalities of the country. Other political parties representing the more radical opposition such as Alianza Popular, Comando Nacional de la Resistencia and Frente Patriótico denounced at the beginning that they were excluded from the agreement.

With the document, called National Unity Agreement, they expected to seek unitary candidacies for the regional elections, besides proposing ten national objectives of their "vision of the country". The agreement also created a set of rules regarding decisions, including decisions being made by a majority of 3/5ths of members or 70% of the popular vote during election processes, the process to determine a joint candidate either through majority or a primary election and a unified policy framework. Many For Social Democracy (Podemos) leaders expressed their support to the presentation of joint candidacies with the Unity, such as Ricardo Gutiérrez and Ernesto Paraqueima, announcing that they would support the candidacies of the above mentioned agreement for governorships and mayorships. Ismael García, secretary general of Podemos and deputy for Aragua, announced on 29 April the support of his party to opposition candidates in the states of Lara and Miranda as well as in the Metropolitan District of Caracas for the regional elections.

Candidates

The following list shows the three main candidates according to their political affiliation (government, opposition and dissident or independent) ordered by number of votes attained. The political affiliation is determined by the political parties supporting each candidate. For the 2008 elections, government candidates were supported by the United Socialist Party; opposition candidates were supported by either Justice First, Democratic Action or the Political Electoral Independent Organization Committee parties; and independent candidates were mostly supported by regional parties.

Metropolitan mayors

Governors

Aftermath

According to the American think tank Freedom House, from this election forward Venezuela ceased to be an electoral democracy, in part due to the disqualification of hundreds of opposition candidates on corruption charges by stating that "the separation of powers is nearly nonexistent" in Venezuela. According to journalist Rory Carroll, Chávez anticipated that the disqualifications would divide the opposition, though the opposition unified instead. After opposition candidate Antonio Ledezma was elected mayor of the Metropolitan district of Caracas, colectivo leader and Chávez ally Lina Ron occupied Caracas' city hall with the support of authorities. Chávez would later establish a "capital district" that remove mayoral powers from Ledezma.

References

General

• "Divulgación Elecciones Regionales 2008". Dirección General de Estadísticas Electorales (in Spanish). Caracas, Venezuela: Consejo Nacional Electoral. 23 November 2008. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.

Specific

1. Rondón Espín, Patricia (3 March 2008). "Chávez funda Partido Socialista Unido para apoyar su revolución". Reuters América Latina (in Spanish). United States: Thomson Reuters Corporate. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
2. "Cargos Que No Se Eligen 2008" (PDF). Dirección General de Estadísticas Electorales (in Spanish). Caracas, Venezuela: Consejo Nacional Electoral. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
3. "H. Capriles Radonski". Tal Cual (in Spanish). Caracas, Venezuela: Editorial La Mosca Analfabeta C.A. 12 February 2012. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
4. ^ Chirinos, Carlos (24 November 2008). "Todos ganan en Venezuela". BBC Mundo (in Spanish). United Kingdom: British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
5. "Curriculum del gobernador" (in Spanish). Zulia State Government. 2007. Archived from the original on 17 January 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
6. ^ Rory, Carroll (2013). Comandante: The Life and Legacy of Hugo Chavez. Canongate Books. pp. 153–155. ISBN 9780857861535.
7. Wilpert, Gregory (6 August 2008). "Venezuelan Supreme Court Ratifies Candidate Disqualifications as Constitutional". Global Exchange. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
8. "Venezuela: Cracks Showing in Chavez's Control". Stratfor Global Intelligence. 6 August 2008. Archived from the original on 3 September 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
9. "Venezuelans local polls a popularity test for Chavez". Taipei Times. Taiwan: Liberty Times Group. 24 November 2008. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
10. "Globovision.com - UNT propuso la unión y el consenso para las próximas elecciones". 6 December 2008. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
11. "Copei insiste a la oposición en pactar la unidad". El Universal (in Spanish). 21 July 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
12. "MAS insta a oposición a unir esfuerzos con miras a elecciones regionales". El Universal (in Spanish). 21 July 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
13. "Candidatos unitarios ya tienen acuerdo de país para campaña". El Universal (in Spanish). 21 July 2018. Archived from the original on 26 January 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
14. "Oswaldo Álvarez Paz denuncia que su organización no fue incluida en pacto unitario". El Universal (in Spanish). 21 July 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
15. "Globovision.com - Propuesta de Un Acuerdo de Unidad Nacional "La Alternativa para el Cambio", firmado por las organizaciones políticas de oposición el 23 de enero de 2008". 27 January 2008. Archived from the original on 27 January 2008. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
16. Jiménez, Maryhen (February 2023). "Contesting Autocracy: Repression and Opposition Coordination in Venezuela". Political Studies. 71 (1): 47–68. doi:10.1177/0032321721999975. S2CID 236367812.
17. "Plataforma Bolivariana". www.nodo50.org. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
18. "El Nuevo Día - Podemos dispuesto a apoyar candidato opositor demócrata". 7 May 2008. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
19. "Podemos apoyará a candidatos opositores". El Universal (in Spanish). 22 July 2018. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
20. LF Angosto (2009), Bolívar, espejo de la revolución: los comicios regionales de 2008 en Venezuela
21. Freedom in the World report: Venezuela, 2009

Further reading

• Larry Hildes and Karen Weill (23 December 2008). "Surprising lessons from Venezuela's 2008 election". Seattle Times. United States: The Seattle Times Company. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2012.

• Carroll, Rory (24 November 2008). "Chavez party dominates in Venezuela regional elections". The Guardian. United Kingdom: Guardian News and Media. Archived from the original on 27 December 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2012.

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• 2008 elections in South America
• 2008 in Venezuela
• Regional elections in Venezuela
• November 2008 events in South America