Regional elections were held in
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
on 31 October 2004 to elect 22
governors
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
and 2
metropolitan mayors for a four-year term beginning in 2004 and ending in 2008, when the next regional elections were held. The elections were originally scheduled for 26 September 2004, but faced technical issues and an application for annulment requested by the opposition, and were held under high political pressure after the events of the
recall referendum of August 2004. The ongoing political crisis in the country and the proximity of the two electoral processes marked the environment of the elections, which were won by the candidates supported by the president,
Hugo Chavez
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Hugo (film), ''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 ...
.
A total 1,577 political organizations participated in the elections; however, abstention levels reached 52%.
As a result, the opposition held two of the 22 governments but lost the Caracas and capital district mayorships.
, who ran as a
presidential candidate in 1998, lost the government of
Carabobo
Carabobo State (, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, located in the north of the country, about two hours by car from Caracas. The state capital city is Valencia, which is also the country's main industrial center. The state's area is and ...
to .
Claudio Fermin, who run for precedency in the
elections of 2000, had no success at the metropolitan mayorship of Caracas, losing to
Juan Barreto. Opposition candidate and incumbent governor
Enrique Mendoza, who was considered as a possible future presidential candidate, lost the elections of the
Miranda state to
Diosdado Cabello
Diosdado Cabello Rondón (born 15 April 1963Vicepresidencia de la República Bolivariana de VenezuelaDiosdado Cabello Rondón, accessed 19 April 2010) is a Venezuelan politician who currently serves as Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace s ...
.
Manuel Rosales
Manuel Antonio Rosales Guerrero (born 12 December 1952, in Santa Bárbara del Zulia) is a Venezuelan educator and politician, current governor of Zulia. He was the most prominent Venezuelan opposition candidate in the 2006 Venezuelan presiden ...
, who would later run for presidency in
the elections of 2006,
became the governor of the
Zulia
Zulia State (, ; 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 is also one of t ...
state.
Candidates
Following, the list of 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 2004 elections, government candidates were supported by the
Fifth Republic Movement
The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento V uintaRepública'', MVR) was a Socialism, socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to ...
(MVR) party; opposition candidates were supported by either
Democratic Action (AD),
Justice First Movement (PJ),
A New Era
Un Nuevo Tiempo (Spanish for 'A New Era', UNT) is a centre-left politics, centre-left political party in Venezuela. It received 11% of the vote in the 2008 Venezuelan regional elections, 2008 regional elections. The party arose in Zulia State, ...
(UNT), or the
Political Electoral Independent Organization Committee (COPEI) party; and independent candidates were mostly supported by regional parties.
Metropolitan mayors
Governors
References
;General
*
;Specific
Further reading
*
*
*
*
{{Venezuelan elections
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
2004 elections in South America
2004 in Venezuela
October 2004 in South America