General elections were held in Venezuela on 5 December 1993.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

(2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p555 The presidential elections were won by Rafael Caldera of

National Convergence The National Convergence ( es, Convergencia Nacional) is a political party in Venezuela. It was founded in 1993 by former President of Venezuela Rafael Caldera, who was a member of Copei and won a second term in the 1993 elections. From 19 ...

, who received 30.5% of the vote. Democratic Action remained the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, which were elected on separate ballots for the first time. Voter turnout was 60.2%, the lowest since World War II.

Background

The election campaign was dominated by the corruption charges brought against sitting President

Carlos Andrés Pérez Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez (27 October 1922 – 25 December 2010) also known as CAP and often referred to as '' El Gocho'' (due to his Andean origins), was a Venezuelan politician and the president of Venezuela from 12 March 1974 to 12 M ...

, 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 "

" of 17 smaller parties - including the

Movement for Socialism The Movement for Socialism–Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples ( es, Movimiento al Socialismo–Instrumento Político por la Soberanía de los Pueblos, abbreviated MAS-IPSP, or simply MAS, punning on ''más'', Spanish for ...

, the

Democratic Republican Union The Democratic Republican Union ( es, Unión Republicana Democrática, URD) is a Venezuelan political party founded in 1945. History When the party appeared on course to win the 1952 election for a constituent assembly, then-dictator Marcos ...

, the

People's Electoral Movement The People's Electoral Movement (''Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo'', MEP) is a left-wing political party in Venezuela, founded in 1967 by Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa. The MEP was founded after Prieto Figueroa won the 1967 Acción Democráti ...

and the Communist Party of Venezuela. His campaign promises included pardoning the 1992 coup plotters, including

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

. The Congressional elections were the first held under a mixed member proportional representation system, modelled on the German system, with some variations. The traditionally dominant Democratic Action and Copei "supported it because it looked the most like the system under which they had prospered".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) 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). 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.

Results

President

Senate

Chamber of Deputies

Aftermath

Andrés Velásquez Andrés Velásquez is a Venezuelan politician of the Radical Cause (''La Causa Radical'') party. Formerly the general secretary of the steelworkers union of SIDOR, he became one of the leaders of Radical Cause after the death of its founder, Alf ...

of Radical Cause gained 22%, and "filed complaints of irregularities, saying that officials from his party were prevented from witnessing vote counting."Venezuela Apparently Returns Former President to Power
Los Angeles Times, 6 December 1993

References

{{Venezuelan elections 1993 in Venezuela 1993 elections in South America Elections in Venezuela Presidential elections in Venezuela December 1993 events in South America