General 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 1 December 1968. Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II'', p555 The presidential election was won by

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 ...

of Copei, who received 29.1% of the vote. ''Acción Democrática'' ( Democratic Action, AD) remained the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate. Voter turnout was 96.7% in the presidential election and 94.5% in the Congressional elections.Nohlen, p556 When Caldera took office in March 1969, it marked the first time in Venezuela's history as an independent nation that the sitting government

peacefully transferred power A peaceful transition or transfer of power is a concept important to democratic governments in which the leadership of a government peacefully hands over control of government to a newly-elected leadership. This may be after elections or during t ...

to an elected member of the opposition.

Background

The election was shaped by a split in AD.

Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa (14 March 1902 – 22 April 1993), was a Venezuelan politician. A founder of Democratic Action and Minister of Education in its first government (1947–1948), he was a leader of Democratic Action after the restoratio ...

, then President of the

Venezuelan Senate The Senate of Venezuela was the upper house of Venezuela's legislature under its 1961 constitution. Under the 1999 constitution, the bicameral system was replaced by the unicameral National Assembly of Venezuela. However, since 1999 the former cham ...

and President of AD, won the AD primary election (held in 1967). His nomination was overturned in favor of Gonzalo Barrios by the

Rómulo Betancourt Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello (22 February 1908 – 28 September 1981; ), known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was the president of Venezuela, serving from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Acción De ...

faction of AD, which considered Prieto Figueroa too left-wing.Swanson, D. L.; Mancini, P. (1996) ''Politics, media, and modern democracy: an international study of innovations in electoral campaigning and their consequences'', Greenwood Publishing Group, p244 Prieto Figueroa and a substantial number of his supporters then split from AD and formed a new party: the People's Electoral Movement ("''Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo''" - MEP). Ultimately, Prieto finished fourth, but his 719,000 votes far exceeded the 32,900-vote gap between Caldera and Barrios.

Results

President

Congress

References

{{Venezuelan elections 1968 in Venezuela

Elections in Venezuela Presidential elections in Venezuela December 1968 events in South America Election and referendum articles with incomplete results