Presidential elections were held in
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 ...
on 6 December 1998. The main candidates were
Hugo Chávez, a career military officer who led a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
against then-president
Carlos Andrés Pérez in 1992; and former
Carabobo Governor
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 ...
. Both candidates represented newly formed parties, a first in a country where the main candidates always represented the parties of the bipartisanship. Chávez represented the
Fifth Republic Movement
The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento V uintaRepública'', MVR) was a socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to support the ca ...
(MVR), while Salas Römer represented
Project Venezuela. Initially weak in the polls, Chávez ran on an anti-
corruption and anti-
poverty platform, condemning the two major parties that had dominated Venezuelan politics since 1958; and began to gain ground in the polls after the previous front runners faded. Despite the fact that the major parties (
Copei and
Democratic Action) endorsed Salas Römer, Chávez was elected into his first term as
President of Venezuela.
A
political realignment
A political realignment, often called a critical election, critical realignment, or realigning election, in the academic fields of political science and political history, is a set of sharp changes in party ideology, issues, party leaders, regional ...
, the result meant the end of the bipartisanship that had dominated the political atmosphere of the country in the last 40 years, and the beginning of the dominance of the new MVR party (later merged into the
United Socialist Party of Venezuela
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela ( es, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV) is a left-wing to far-left socialist political party which has been the ruling party of Venezuela since 2010. It was formed from a merger of some of the p ...
) and the
Bolivarian Revolution
The Bolivarian Revolution is a political process in Venezuela that was led by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement and later the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). The Bolivarian Revolution is ...
, system that still holds political power in Venezuela as of 2022.
Background
In the early 1990s the Venezuelan government's economic strength and political legitimacy was declining, with
two coup attempts in 1992 and the impeachment for corruption of President
Carlos Andrés Pérez. The result was a turn against the traditional
Puntofijo Pact
The Puntofijo Pact (or Punto Fijo Pact) was a formal arrangement arrived at between representatives of Venezuela's three main political parties in 1958, Acción Democrática (AD), COPEI (Social Christian Party), and Unión Republicana Democr� ...
parties (
Democratic Action and
Copei) in the
1993 elections:
Rafael Caldera
Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( (); 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009), twice elected the president of Venezuela, served for two five-year terms (1969–1974 and 1994–1999), becoming the longest serving democratically elected leade ...
's victory in 1993 was the first time in Venezuela's democratic history that a President had been elected without the support of either of the two major parties.
It was symptomatic that Caldera's election platform included pardoning those who had participated in the coup attempts, and he did so in 1994.
Hugo Chávez, imprisoned for his role in the February 1992 coup attempt, was among those released.
By 1998, the economic crisis had grown even worse. Per capita GDP was at the same level as 1963, down a third from its 1978 peak; the purchasing power of the average salary was a third of its 1978 level.
Chávez's participation
For a number of years after his 1994 release from prison, Chávez maintained a position against participation in elections, believing them a fixed game which merely legitimated the established order.
This led to a split with his colleague
Francisco Arias Cárdenas, who left the
MBR-200.
[Jones (2008:202-4)] In the early years after his release, Chávez considered the possibility of another coup attempt, but with the prospects appearing slim, some advisers, notably
Luis Miquilena, urged him to reconsider his scepticism of the elections, arguing that Chávez could potentially win so convincingly that the establishment would not be able to deny him victory.
To find out whether this was the case, Chávez set up teams of psychologists, sociologists, university professors and students to carry out a survey. With their support, grassroots members of the Bolivarian movement polled tens of thousands of people across the country. The results showed that 70% of respondents supported Chávez running for the presidency – and 57% said they would vote for him.
Support for the electoral route was strengthened when Arias Cárdenas, as a candidate for
Radical Cause
The Radical Cause ( es, La Causa Radical, LCR), stylized as La Causa Я, is a minor left-wing political party in Venezuela, and today part of the Venezuelan opposition to president Nicolás Maduro.
At its peak in the early 1990s, the party came ...
, won the Governorship of
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 ...
State in the
December 1995 regional elections.
Despite this, the MBR-200 remained divided over electoral participation, and spent a year debating the issue in local, regional and national assemblies. A national congress on 19 April 1997 took from 9 am until 2 am the next day to reach a conclusion, ultimately deciding to launch Chávez' candidacy. Some members of the movement resigned in protest, holding too much at stake.
In July 1997 Chávez registered the new
Fifth Republic Movement
The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento V uintaRepública'', MVR) was a socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to support the ca ...
with the National Electoral Council (the name had to be changed as Venezuelan law did not permit parties to use
Simón Bolívar's name).
The international media took little interest, citing opinion polls showing 8% support for Chávez.
Electoral process
The 1998 elections were the first to be carried out with a non-partisan
National Electoral Council.
Traditionally poll workers had been provided by the parties, but in this election "a lottery was set up to draft 300,000 registered voters as poll workers".
The elections also saw "the world's first automated voting system, which featured a single integrated electronic network that was supposed to transmit the results from the polling stations to central headquarters within minutes."
Whilst Venezuela had traditionally provided election observers to other Latin American countries, the uncertainty of the new system and the possibility of handover to a non-traditional party raised the stakes in terms of demonstrating that the elections would be fair, and Venezuela invited international election observers for the first time.
The
Organization of American States,
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
,
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University just after his defeat in the 1980 United States presid ...
and
International Republican Institute
The International Republican Institute (IRI) is an American nonprofit organization. Most of its board is drawn from the Republican Party. It is committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more iss ...
all sent delegations.
The automated vote system enabled the Electoral Council to announce the results within 2.5 hours of the polls closing.
After corroborating the results with the Carter Center, the losing candidate conceded several hours later.
Campaign
The campaign was dominated by independent candidates, as the electorate completed the turn against the establishment parties begun in 1993. In the final poll of the year in December 1997
Irene Sáez
Irene Lailin Sáez Conde (born 13 December 1961 in Chacao, Miranda, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1981. She has been a model, was the mayor of Chacao (a municipality of Caracas), Governor ...
, a former beauty queen (
Miss Universe
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...
1981
['' St. Petersburg Times'', 21 July 1981,]
Miss Venezuela Chosen World's Most Beautiful
, p3A) and mayor of the
Caracas district of
Chacao, reached almost 70% as an independent candidate.
[McCoy, Jennifer (2006), "From Representative to Participatory Democracy?", in McCoy, Jennifer and Myers, David (eds, 2006), ''The Unraveling of Representative Democracy in Venezuela'', Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 276] However, despite spending millions of dollars on publicity, she fell below 15% within six months, as the public became increasingly sceptical of her readiness for the Presidency, and as she lost credibility as an anti-establishment candidate after accepting the endorsement of COPEI.
The other early leading candidate, the former Democratic Action leader
Claudio Fermín
Claudio Eloy Fermín Maldonado (born in Barinas, Barinas,March 25, 1950) is a Venezuelan politician. He was deputy minister of youth under Jaime Lusinchi, and subsequently Mayor of Libertador municipality, Caracas (1989–1993) for Acción Democ ...
, reached 35% in December 1997, but fell to 6% by April 1998.
[McCoy, Jennifer (1999), "Chavez and the End of "Partyarchy" in Venezuela", ''Journal of Democracy'', 10(3), pp. 64–77]
During 1998, it then became increasingly clear that the campaign was a race between Salas Römer and Chávez. Salas Römer, the governor of
Carabobo and leader of the new Project Venezuela party, appeared a credible candidate as Sáez lost ground,
and reached 21% in the polls in August 1998.
However at the same time, Chávez's own campaign gained ground as he established himself with the electorate. From around 5% in September 1997 to over 10% in late February 1998,
[Jones, Bart (2008), ''Hugo! The Hugo Chavez Story from Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution'', London: ]The Bodley Head
The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...
, p. 215 Chávez registered 30% in polls taken in May 1998; by August he was registering 39%.
The Chávez platform comprised three basic pledges. First to begin his presidency by abolishing Venezuela's old ''
puntofijismo'' political system of two-party
patronage, and opening up political power to independent and third parties. Second, to end corruption. Third, to eradicate poverty in Venezuela. In working to gain the trust of voters, Chávez drafted an agenda that drew heavily on his interpretation of
Bolivarianism.
Chávez also utilized his
charisma
Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects.
Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...
and flamboyant public speaking style—noted for its abundance of
colloquialisms and
ribald
Ribaldry or blue comedy is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to indecency. Blue comedy is also referred to as "bawdiness" or being "bawdy".
Sex is presented in ribald material more for the purpose of poking fun at ...
manner—on the campaign trail to help win the trust and favor of a primarily poor and
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
following.
[.] On one occasion, he threatened to "fry" the heads of his opponents.
The two traditional main parties hoped that 8 November
parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
and
regional elections would give them a boost, a month ahead of 8 December presidential elections, but the poll remained a two-horse race.
At this point polls generally showed Chávez with a 6–12-point lead over Salas Römer's approximately 38% poll numbers, though in some polls he exceeded that margin.
Both COPEI and Democratic Action now sought to endorse Salas Römer (he was reluctant to accept). COPEI persuaded its candidate (Sáez) to resign, but Democratic Action's candidate, Alfaro Ucero, refused to do so, triggering an electoral crisis as the National Electoral Council had to rule on whether the Democratic Action ballot slot belonged to the party or the candidate.
Salas Römer agreed to accept the endorsement of COPEI and Democratic Action regional and local parties, and sought to maintain a distance to the parties' national leadership.
In the end, it was not enough, and Chávez won a substantial majority, and won 17 of 23 states.
Results
Reactions
Domestic
Following his victory, Chávez promised that he would not devalue the
bolivar and that
currency controls would not be created.
Salas Römer reacted to the results stating "I not only accept the victory of my adversary but wish him luck, lots of luck, because his luck will be that of Venezuela".
Some
Chávez supporters reacted to his election by saying that they would accept an
authoritarian government under Chávez if he decided to utilize such form of government.
International
The
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
reacted cautiously, with American Ambassador
John Maisto stating that "With respect to what we know about Mr. Chavez's platform, we will have to see what his policies are, in fact, and see whom he will appoint to key positions".
References
Further reading
*
{{Topics related to Hugo Chávez
Presidential elections in Venezuela
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 ...
1998 in Venezuela
Hugo Chávez
Bolivarian Revolution
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 ...