2006 Venezuelan presidential election

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Venezuela's 2006 presidential elections Chairman 2007-2013
Date						Sunday, 3 December 2006
Type						Presidential
Period						10 January 2007-10 January 2013
Campaign duration						1 August - 1 December
Electoral demography
Population					26,858,000
Registered						15,784,777
Voters						11,790,397
Participation
							74.69 %18.4 %
Valid votes						11,630,152
Null vote						160,245
Results
			Hugo Chávez- MVR
			Patriotic Pole Movement V Republic We can't. PPT PCV MEP Others...
			Votes			7 309 08094.5 %
									62.84 %
			Manuel Rosales- UNT
			National Unit UNT PJ COPEI LCR Others...
			Votes			4 292 46681.9 %
									36.90 %
favorable results for Chávez at the national level
President of Venezuela
Owner Hugo Chávez						Elect Hugo Chávez

The Venezuelan presidential elections were held on Sunday, December 3, 2006, with Hugo Chávez being re-elected.

Participants

The National Electoral Council (CNE) admitted 22 presidential candidates for the constitutional period that runs from January 10, 2007 to January 10, 2013.

Of the total number of candidates, 8 of them present their resignation before the elections, thus leaving 14 candidates (4 of them women), to contest these elections. These were the candidates:

• Hugo Chávez, presidential candidate representing the MVR and the coalition of 24 other allied parties that support him (PODEMOS, PPT, PCV, MEP, UPV, Socialist League, Tupamaro, Emerging People, MIGATO, Union, MDD, CMR, CRV, IPCN, MCM, MCGN, Labor Power, ONDA, MNI, UPC, FACOBA, PROVEN).

• National Liberation Movement, People's Democratic Force, People's Power, People's Power, People's Power, People's Power, People's Power, People's Power, People's Power,

• Eudes Vera, initiative
• José Tineo, match Venezuela Third Millennium (VTM).
• Carmelo Romano Pérez, United People Liberal Movement (MLPU).
• Angel Irigoyen, match Break Chains (RC).
• Venezuela Da Silva, New Social Order (NOS).
• Homer Rodríguez, Movimiento By Querer to Venezuela (PQV).
• Isbelia León, movement Force and Peace Institution (IFP).
• Pedro Francisco Aranguren, Conscious Country Movement (MCP).
• Luis Alfonso Reyes Castillo, Organized Youth Organization of Venezuela (Youth).
• Judith Salazar, Children of the Homeland (HP).
• Alejandro José Suárez Luzardo, Movement Sentir Nacional (MSN).
• Carolina Contreras, on his own initiative.

Withdrawn candidates

• Benjamin Rausseo, comedian and businessman, by the Independent Electoral Party of Advanced Response (PIEDRA)
• Jesus Caldera Infante, by the New Progressive Alliance Party (NAPO), former president of the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
• Angel Blanco Soteldo, by group of electors.
• Lourdes Santander, by Environmentalist Movement of Sustainable Management (Amaos).
• Brigida García, for the Juan Bimba party.
• José Gregorio Hernández Chávez, for the PASR party.
• Abade Vásquez, by the National Union of Social Organizations (Unidos) party.
• Enoes Sánchez, for the Independent Action Force party.

Background

• Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was elected president in 1998 under the former 1961 constitution. In 2000, a year and a half after his first election, he was ratified in office by elections popularly called "Mega elecciones". As provided for by the Constitution, presidential elections will be held after six years of constitutional period, for which the Electoral Power officially convened presidential elections on 14 March 2006. It should be remembered that Chavez was separated from power for two days, when he was overthrown by the coup of April 11, 2002.

• On August 15, 2004, a referendum was held, in accordance with article 72 of the Constitution, where the permanence of Chávez would be approved, in which he officially defeated again with 59.10% of the votes. This result was contested by representatives of the opposition, who denounced alleged fraud and demanded a manual count of the entire vote. The Carter Center and the Organization of American States (OAS) ratified the results of the referendum and the opposition never gave evidence of the alleged fraud that would allow the CNE to address its complaints.
• At the end of 2004 elections were also held for the governorates and mayors, whose positions were mostly won by Chávez supporters.
• In September 2005, councillors and parish boards were elected. This was the first time in the history of the country in which these charges were elected on a different date than those of mayors and governors.
• In December 2005 in the elections to the National Assembly, all the seats were won by Chávez supporters, with 75% abstention of voters after the opposition candidates for the majority retired from the contest, arguing their lack of confidence in the Venezuelan electoral power. The chavismo referred to as a boycott of the Venezuelan electoral system.

Opposition

The opposition leaders, aware that it was impossible to defeat Hugo Chávez if they did not present a single candidate, began efforts to choose him, within the broad amalgam of pre-candidates who wished to be nominated. These were Manuel Rosales, governor of Zulia for the Un Nuevo Tiempo party; Julio Borges, former Mirandino representative for Primero Justicia; Teodoro Petkoff, former minister and former senator of the MAS now independent; Sergio Omar Calderón, former governor of Táchira for COPEI; William Ojeda, former deputy for his Un Solo Pueblo party; Cecilia Sosa, former president of the defunct Supreme Court of Justice, supported by the Federal Republican Party; Enrique Tejera París, former chancellor and former senator, independent; Vicente Brito, former president of Fedecámaras supported by the Republican Movement (MR); and Froilán Barrios, former president of the CTV.

Primary elections

The pre-candidate Julio Borges proposed the idea of primary elections to elect the sole opposition candidate, for the beginning of August. However, the idea had many weak points, which is why pre-candidates like Teodoro Petkoff were against it. After some negotiations, the Súmate civil association presented its proposal that it be in charge of carrying them out. The date was set for August 13, but due to the election of the only opposition candidate on the 9th of the same month, the primary elections were not held.

Appointment of Manuel Rosales

Days before the selection of the sole candidate, by the majority of the opposition, the pre-candidate Teodoro Petkoff, who was third in all the polls, announced the withdrawal of his presidential candidacy so that the search could be expedited. The meetings between the rest continued to be held more frequently until at noon on August 9, Julio Borges, candidate for Primero Justicia, informed the country of the decision to support Manuel Rosales as the sole opposition candidate.

This meant that from that moment on, Governor Manuel Rosales became the leader of the Venezuelan Opposition and that he would be the one who would represent the thousands of citizens opposed to the government and would confront President Hugo Chávez, who is seeking re-election. despite not having the support of opposition parties such as the national leadership of Democratic Action and Proyecto Venezuela. However, more than thirty political and civil organizations in the country publicly expressed their support for Rosales. The AD union bureau as well as its regional components from Nueva Esparta, Monagas, Zulia, Cojedes, Anzoátegui and other states along with many "adecos" announced that they will support the sole opposition candidate in the December 3 elections.

The Supreme Court of Justice decided that Governor Rosales was obliged to leave the governorship of Zulia to be a presidential candidate, based on article 229 of the 1999 national constitution, although not absolutely, but rather authorized temporarily by the Legislative Council of Zulia, so in case he lost the presidential elections he could resume the state magistracy again. Once his nomination was formalized, the Secretary General of the Government, Nelson Carrasquero, assumed office in accordance with the legislation of the State of Zulia.

On August 17 at the Hilton Hotel in Caracas Rosales presented the composition of his campaign command: Julio Borges, who aspired to the vice presidency (being appointed by the President of the Republic, since he is not popularly elected), and Teodoro Petkoff, (former Minister of Cordiplan under Rafael Caldera) as National Director of Strategy, headed the campaign team. Armando Briquet and Gerardo Blyde were part of the national strategy team representing Primero Justicia. Political scientist José Vicente Carrasquero took the reins as campaign director, while the National Director of the Government Program is Eleodoro Quintero. Enrique Ochoa Antich also worked as executive campaign secretary; as Director of the Candidate Support Unit, Omar Barboza, and as Director of the Candidate Advisory Unit, Hiram Gaviria. Cecilia Sosa headed the Legal Affairs Advisory Commission, Vicente Brito was the Advisor for Private Investment, and Enrique Tejera París directed the International Political Affairs advisory board. The National Commission for Institutional Relations was headed by Rafael Simón Jiménez (former Mas, former Podemos and former Vamos, representing the Polo Democrático party at the time of the electoral campaign); as Director of Relations with Political Parties, Ángel Emilio Vera; in the National Organization Commission, Luis Emilio Rondón and as Executive Director, Ciro Belloso. Pedro Pablo Fernández was responsible for the Special Programs; William Ojeda (former Chavista, candidate for the Un Solo Pueblo party and declined in favor of Rosales), the National Director of Volunteering and Anairé Morales, Executive Secretary. The Director of International Affairs is Timoteo Zambrano (former AD and current member of Un Nuevo Tiempo); and National Director of Relations with the National Electoral Council, Enrique Márquez. Liliana Hernández served as Director of the Sectoral Movements Commission; Director of the Change Movement, Alexandra Belandria; Director of the Volunteer Movement for Venezuela, Julio Montoya; Director of the Promoters of National Unity Movement, Sergio Omar Calderón; Director of the Workers' Movement in Venezuela, Froilán Barrios and Director of Youth for Venezuela, Denis Ramírez.

Many people think^[who?] that thanks to the fact that the candidacy of Mr. Benjamín Rausseo, who is a well-known comedian in the country, had risen exponentially in opinion polls in the days following his announcement of the presidential candidacy as an outsider to the opposition political leadership, urged the rest of the candidates to choose Manuel Rosales as the opposition candidate. Over time, Rausseo would renounce his candidacy, leaving the way clear for Rosales, without his express support.

Surveys

A survey conducted by Datanalysis in August 2006 gave Hugo Chávez an advantage of 41 points: Chávez would get 58.2% of the vote, while the opposition candidate Manuel Rosales 17.4% of votes. That same pollster published on November 16, 2006 a survey carried out between October 28 and November 6 among 1,600 voters that showed a vote intention of 52% for Hugo Chávez and 25% for Hugo Chávez..5% for Manuel Rosales. Among the polls carried out in the final stretch of the electoral campaign are the daily tracking polls of the firm Hinterlaces, which estimated an intention to vote for Chávez of 45% while that Rosales was awarded 27%., while the pollster Consultores 21 indicated that Chávez would maintain an advantage of 13 percentage points over his closest competitor by obtaining 53% and 40% respectively.

A survey by the firm Penn, Schoen and Berland in September 2006 estimated electoral preferences of 50% for Chávez and 37% for Rosales. According to the American pollster, the difference between the current president Hugo Chávez and the opponent Manuel Rosales would have narrowed, remaining only six points apart. The pollster, which conducted a survey of 1,000 Venezuelans from different locations in the country, between November 6 and 10, gave 48% of votes in favor of Chávez against 42% in favor of Rosales, with a margin of error of between 3% and 3.5%.

Other surveys such as the one by the Venezuelan Institute of Data Analysis published by the Venezuelan newspaper Últimas Noticias on November 3 and carried out between October 18 and 29 among 1,400 voters, gave Chávez a 53.2% and Rosales 28.1%, while in a new survey also carried out by IVAD and published on November 23, Chávez had an advantage of 27 percentage points with 54.6 % over the 27.5% of Rosales.

A survey conducted by Zogby International between October 1 and 16, 2006 on a sample of 800 voters, and published on October 23, 2006, indicated a voting intention of 59% of voters. surveyed for the candidate Hugo Chávez, 35 points ahead of Manuel Rosales, who obtained 24% with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, while in a new Zogby International survey carried out on the 12th and on November 18 it gives 60% to Chávez and 31% to his main contender.

Another survey, carried out by professors from the Complutense University of Madrid in two phases, also gave the official candidate as the virtual winner with 59% compared to 39% of his closest opponent. Meanwhile, the American pollster Evans /McDonough with the support of the Venezuelan Consultores 30.11 in a survey of 2,000 voters, they gave an advantage of 22 percentage points to the candidate for re-election with 57% over the 35% obtained by Manuel Rosales.

According to an Associated Press survey conducted by the pollster Ipsos between November 10 and 18, 2006 among 2,500 voters and published on November 23, Chávez would obtain 59% of the votes and Rosales 27% with a margin of error of 3%

In contrast, three pollsters reflected a much smaller difference between the two main candidates to the point of declaring it a technical tie: the company Keller y Asociados, which awarded the President Chávez has 52% support while Governor Rosales obtains 48% approval, the firm Survey Fast estimated 49.8% for Chávez against 49.1% for Rosales. and Ceca Survey Figures that in a survey whose results were published on October 23, indicated a voting intention of 41.3% in favor of Manuel Rosales against 39.5% obtained by Hugo Chávez, this being the only one where the main opposition candidate surpassed the official candidate.

The polls became a propaganda instrument for both campaign commands, which praised those polls that were favorable to them while denouncing as paid and false those that were not. are. Regarding this, the director of the polling company Datanalysis, Luis Vicente León, declared that "the Government may not like that we think that Rosales can still grow (electorally), but The opposition has disqualified all the polls in which Chávez appears with 20 points over Rosales.

It is worth noting that some of the surveys distributed those who were undecided or called ni-nis and abstentionists between the two main candidates.

Below is a comparative table of the different surveys with their results and publication date. In it, only the two main candidates have been taken into account; those surveys with the asterisk sign (*) present results where those who were undecided or abstainers were distributed.

Campaign

The campaign period for presidential candidacies began on August 1, 2006.

Hugo Chávez

President Hugo Chávez presents a slogan similar to that of the parliamentary elections of December 2005, "10 million for the crop" and it is allusive to the number of votes that this candidate hoped to get in the presidential election.

On September 1, 2006, his campaign command released a new one: "El Bravo Pueblo (Esta Contigo)", referring to a fragment of the national anthem Gloria al Bravo Pueblo, despite the fact that the The laws of this country prohibit the use of national symbols in electoral campaigns. On October 9, the entire campaign underwent a new change with the slogan: "For Love" whose art and slogan was created by Carmen D. Fuentes Rodríguez, a member of the PSUV party, in which in a televised message she expresses that everything she has done in the eight years of her Government has been for love.

Their slogans also underwent a change, leaving behind Los "10 Millions por el Buche", and they resumed the "Uh! Ah! Chávez Isn't Going!" also created by Carmen D. Fuentes Rodríguez and incorporated the phrase: "Chávez: Victory of Venezuela".

Among the attacks made by Hugo Chávez against the main opposition candidate Manuel Rosales, they stand out in accusing him of being a puppet of the United States government, of representing the "fourth Republic", and of supporting the ephemeral government of Pedro Carmona Estanga and his controversial decree that dissolved all public powers on April 11, 2002.

Manuel Rosales

The motto is "Atrévete con Manuel Rosales", accompanied by a song titled Atrévete, this being a reissue of the song of the same title by the Puerto Rican group Calle 13 (later this group would accuse the candidate of plagiarism).^{[citation required]} With this expression they hoped to obtain the support of the majority of the parties opposed to the Chávez government. The campaign also used the expression: "for 26 million Venezuelans", the number of inhabitants of Venezuela at that time and in contrast to the electoral motto of the re-election candidate Hugo Chávez which was " 10 Million for the Buche'. The proposed flag of the opposition candidate is summarized in the name 'Mi Negra', which refers to the proposal to deliver 20% of oil royalties to the poorest classes of the population through a card debit card whose prototype was distributed throughout the country and that any Venezuelan could acquire by simply expressing their will. Said massive distribution has already been occurring even before the elections themselves as part of Manuel Rosales' political strategy.

The main accusation against his main rival Chávez stands out the accusations of wanting to implement a communist regime; He promises to promote foreign investments and improve relations with the United States and the & # 34; traditional partners & # 34; of Venezuela and breaking with the Cuban government headed by Fidel Castro.

Benjamín Rausseo

Benjamín Rausseo, who is best known for his humorous character 'Er Conde del Guácharo', initially proposes a campaign to attract voters known locally as 'ni-ni', the who do not feel identified with the government or the traditional opposition. He had several mottos among them "alpargata mata bota", "first the Venezuelans and the others who make the queue", "chiruli with chiruli and jay with jay". # 3. 4;. But the most popular of his slogans was "vote stone", which is reminiscent of the Venezuelan expression of "extract or throw away the stone", which means to be upset. Mr. Rausseo, after several months of campaigning, suffered a severe collapse in his health in October 2006, apparently motivated by the pressures that surrounded his campaign, and finally on November 16 he formally renounced his presidential candidacy before the National Council. Electoral, granting "freedom of conscience" to its followers to proceed to vote for the available election that they consider most convenient.

Election Day

After the installation of 100% of the polling stations by the CNE, with the support of the Republic Plan, which represents a total of 33 thousand tables throughout the country, the planned voting ceremony began. for 06:00 a.m. m. Throughout the national territory.

At 10:10 p.m. m. The president of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena, announced on the national network the first newsletter with a total of 78.31% of the votes counted, which reflected that the candidate Hugo Chávez obtained 5 million 936 thousand 141 (61.35%) of the elections, while Manuel Rosales obtained 3 million 715 thousand 292 votes (38.33%)

A few minutes later, Hugo Chávez's supporters took to the streets of the country's main cities to celebrate the victory of their standard bearer. In the center of Caracas they gathered around the "Balcón del Pueblo" in Miraflores, from where Chávez spoke his first words as President of Venezuela re-elected for the position corresponding to the period 2007-2013. The first cheers from the Head of State were for Venezuela, "the socialist revolution" and the Liberator, Simón Bolívar and, as he promised a few days ago, he dedicated his triumph to the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, as well as to the martyrs of the Homeland, who gave their blood in the last 500 years & # 34;.

Meanwhile, the opposition candidate, from his Campaign command located in "Quinta Esmeralda", (Caracas), acknowledged defeat against his adversary Hugo Chávez, in a brief speech of encouragement to his supporters. He warned that the difference & # 34; real & # 34; It was by a narrower margin, and that he will remain in the streets fighting for the people of Venezuela.

Results