The 2008 regional elections of
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
were held on 23 November 2008 to choose 22
governors
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
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
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...
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
Antonio José Ledezma Díaz (born 1 May 1955) is a Venezuelan lawyer, politician and former political prisoner. After unsuccessfully challenging for the leadership of Democratic Action in 1999, he founded a new party, the Fearless People's All ...
, as well as five state governments; the United Socialist Party, meanwhile, won seventeen.
Henrique Capriles Radonski
Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda from 2008 to 2017.
Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, ...
, the former mayor of the
Baruta
Baruta (pop. 317,288) is a municipality within the Metropolitan District of Caracas in Venezuela.
Geography
Baruta is located geographically in the South-East section of the city. Its western limit is the '' Los Chaguaramos'' neighborhood ( ...
municipality, became the governor of
Miranda, defeating the incumbent,
Diosdado Cabello
Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela also drug lord of Venezuela
, atentamente alcardonDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician and current mem ...
.
[ ]Adán Chávez
Adán Chávez Frías (born April 11, 1953) is a Venezuelan politician who was Governor of Barinas state from 2008 to 2017. Previously he was Ambassador to Cuba and then Minister of Education from 2007 to 2008. He is the elder brother of Hugo Ch ...
, president Hugo Chavéz's brother, became the governor of Barinas. In Carabobo, Henrique Salas Feo
Henrique Fernando Salas Feo (born December 14, 1960) is a Venezuelan politician, President of the centre-right party Project Venezuela, and the former governor of Carabobo State. He is the son of the former Carabobo Governor and 1998 president ...
, the son of former presidential candidate
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* t ...
Henrique Salas Römer
Henrique Salas Römer (born 17 April 1936 in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan economist from Yale University, politically active in Venezuela since 1983.
Political career
He was elected to congress as a member of the COPEI ...
, defeated his opponent Mario Silva to become the governor. Pablo Pérez Álvarez
Pablo Martín Pérez Álvarez (August 19, 1969 in Maracaibo) is a Venezuelan lawyer, politician and former Governor of Zulia State.
Biography
Studies
In 1986 he graduated from secondary school with a diploma in Humanities. Pérez Álvarez ...
became the governor Zulia
Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...
; he succeeded Manuel Rosales
Manuel Antonio Rosales Guerrero (born December 12, 1952, in Santa Bárbara del Zulia) is a Venezuelan educator and politician, current governor of Zulia, Venezuela's most populated state. He was the most prominent opposition candidate in the ...
, who had governed from 2000 until 2008 and was a presidential candidate
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* t ...
in 2006.
Background
After losing the 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum
The Venezuelan recall referendum of 15 August 2004 was a referendum to determine whether Hugo Chávez, then President of Venezuela, should be recalled from office. The recall referendum was announced on 8 June 2004 by the National Electoral Co ...
, the opposition became determined to participate in the 2008 elections. Prior to the elections, the General Comptroller
A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...
, a Chávez ally, banned almost 300 candidates who had been accused of corruption without making formal charges. Leopoldo López
Leopoldo Eduardo López Mendoza (born 29 April 1971) is a Venezuelan opposition leader. He co-founded the political party Primero Justicia in 2000 with Henrique Capriles and Julio Borges and was elected mayor of the Chacao Municipality of Car ...
, 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.
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
The Justice First ( es, Primero Justicia) is a centre-right political party in Venezuela. Founded in 1992 as a civil association, it became a political party in 2000. Henrique Capriles was the candidate of the party in 2013 general election.
...
, Democratic Action or the Political Electoral Independent Organization Committee parties; and independent candidates were mostly supported by regional parties.
Metropolitan mayors
Governors
Reception
According to the American think tank Freedom House
Freedom House is a non-profit, majority U.S. government funded organization in Washington, D.C., that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, and Wendell Wil ...
, from this election forward Venezuela ceased to be an electoral democracy
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...
,Freedom in the World report: Venezuela, 2009
/ref> in part due to the disqualification of hundreds of opposition candidates on corruption charges by stating that "the separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
is nearly nonexistent" in Venezuela. According to journalist Rory Carroll
Rory Carroll (born 1972) is an Irish journalist working for ''The Guardian'' who has reported from the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Latin America and Los Angeles. He is the Ireland correspondent for ''The Guardian''. His book on Hugo Chávez, '' ...
, Chávez anticipated that the disqualifications would divide the opposition, though the opposition unified instead. After opposition candidate Antonio Ledezma
Antonio José Ledezma Díaz (born 1 May 1955) is a Venezuelan lawyer, politician and former political prisoner. After unsuccessfully challenging for the leadership of Democratic Action in 1999, he founded a new party, the Fearless People's All ...
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
*
Specific
Further reading
*
*
{{Venezuelan elections
2008 elections in South America
2008 in Venezuela
2008
November 2008 events in South America