Venezuelan regional elections, 2008

The 2008 regional elections of Venezuela were held on 23 November 2008 to choose 22 governors and 2 metropolitan mayors. The candidates were selected for a term beginning in 2008 and ending in 2012, when the next regional elections will be held. The 2008 regional elections were the second during the government of Hugo Chávez Frías and the first since he founded the United Socialist Party.^[1] In these elections, a total of 17,308 candidates competed for 603 elected positions; around 59 national and 236 regional political parties participated.^[2]

During the elections, the Venezuelan General Comptroller banned almost 300 candidates who had been accused of corruption. The Supreme Tribunal ratified the bans and removed the candidates from the process.^[3][4][5] The government of the state of Amazonas and nine municipalities were not chosen in this elections because they had been elected after the 2004 regional elections.^[6] The Venezuelan opposition managed to attain the metropolitan municipality of Caracas, won by candidate Antonio Ledezma, as well as five state governments; the United Socialist Party, meanwhile, won seventeen.

Henrique Capriles Radonski, the former mayor of the Baruta municipality,^[7] became the governor of Miranda, defeating the incumbent, Diosdado Cabello.^[8] Adán Chávez, president Hugo Chavéz's brother,^[8] became the governor of Barinas. In Carabobo, Henrique Salas Feo, the son of former presidential candidate Henrique Salas Römer, defeated his opponent Mario Silva to become the governor. Pablo Pérez Álvarez became the governor Zulia; he succeeded Manuel Rosales, who had governed from 2000 until 2008 and was a presidential candidate in 2006.^[9]

Candidates

The following list shows the 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 2008 elections, government candidates were supported by the United Socialist Party; opposition candidates were supported by either Justice First, Democratic Action or the Political Electoral Independent Organization Committee parties; and independent candidates were mostly supported by regional parties.

Metropolitan mayors

Indicates the winning candidate

Metropolitan mayorship winners and candidates with affiliation, percentage and number of votes attained

Metropolitan Area	Affiliation	Candidate	%	Votes
Caracas	Opposition	Antonio Ledezma	52.40	722,822
		Government	Aristóbulo Istúriz	44.94	619,622
		Independent	Augusto Uribe	1.97	27,281
Alto Apure	Government	Jorge Rodriguez	55.92	21,381
		Independent	Elfar Angarita	20.86	7,979
		Opposition	Ignacio Barrillas	20.21	7,728

Governors

Antonio Ledezma became the major of the Metropolitan municipality of Caracas, defeating Aristóbulo Istúriz.

Henrique Capriles Radonski, whom became presidential candidate in 2012, defeated former vice-president and governor Diosdado Cabello to become the governor for the Miranda state.

Pablo Pérez Álvarez defeated his adversary Gian Carlo di Martino and succeeded Manuel Rosales as governor of the Zulia state.

Indicates the winning candidate

Governorship winners and candidates with affiliation, percentage and number of votes attained

State	Affiliation	Candidate	%	Votes
Anzoátegui	Government	Tarek William Saab	55.09	311,344
		Opposition	Gustavo Marcano	40.49	228,814
		Independent	Benjamín Rausseo	3.34	18,879
Apure	Government	Jesús Aguilarte	56.97	89,823
		Opposition	Miriam de Montilla	26.43	41,673
		Independent	Rafael Rojas	6.85	10,813
Aragua	Government	Rafael Isea	58.92	382,845
		Opposition	Henry Rosales	39.81	258,684
		Independent	Luis Zapata	0.65	4,245
Barinas	Government	Adán Chávez	50.48	148,353
		Independent	Julio César Reyes	43.95	129,143
		Opposition	Rafael Jiménez	4.93	14,506
Bolívar	Government	Francisco Rangel Gómez	47.38	210,511
		Opposition	Andrés Velásquez	30.69	136,378
		Independent	Antonio Rojas Suarez	14.8	65,748
Carabobo	Opposition	Henrique Salas Feo	47.50	407,520
		Government	Mario Silva	44.52	381,950
		Independent	Luis Felipe Acosta Carlez	6.56	56,290
Cojedes	Government	Teodoro Bolívar	52.44	68,903
		Opposition	Alberto Galíndez	39.59	52,015
		Independent	Gonzalo Mujica	6.70	8,812
Delta Amacuro	Government	Lizeta Hernández	55.80	36,965
		Independent	Pedro Santaella	25.23	16,716
		Opposition	Amado Heredia	14.45	9,578
Falcón	Government	Stella Lugo	55.36	202,438
		Opposition	José Gregorio Graterol	44.40	162,359
		Independent	Jhonny Tovar	0.16	615
Guárico	Government	Willian Lara	52.54	147,796
		Independent	Lenny Manuitt	33.20	93.393
		Opposition	Reynaldo Armas	13.42	37,759
Lara	Government	Henri Falcón	73.52	448,536
		Opposition	Pedro Pablo Alcántara	14.58	88,948
		Independent	Fredy Andrade	8.89	54,251
Mérida	Government	Marcos Díaz Orellana	55.04	196,667
		Opposition	Williams Dávila	44.70	159,728
		Independent	María Díaz	0.25	906
Miranda	Opposition	Henrique Capriles Radonski	53.11	583,795
		Government	Diosdado Cabello	46.10	506,753
		Independent	Blanca Tamara Vargas	0.53	5,832
Monagas	Government	José Gregorio Briceño	64.86	204,857
		Opposition	Domingo Urbina	15.02	47,437
		Independent	Ramon Fuentes	12.88	40,684
Nueva Esparta	Opposition	Morel Rodríguez	57.53	112,516
		Government	William Fariñas	41.80	81,756
		Independent	Nelson Silva	0.48	955
Portuguesa	Government	Wilmar Castro	58.22	185,271
		Opposition	Jobito Villegas	26.93	85,707
		Independent	Bella Petrizzo	14.49	46,110
Sucre	Government	Enrique Maestre	56.51	204,665
		Opposition	Eduardo Morales Gil	42.21	152,870
		Independent	Armiche Padrón	0.58	2,110
Táchira	Opposition	César Pérez Vivas	49.46	240,478
		Government	Leonardo Salcedo	48.12	233,995
		Independent	Rosa Velazco	1.28	6,242
Trujillo	Government	Hugo Cabezas	59.96	170,770
		Opposition	Enrique Catalán	26.30	74,905
		Independent	Octaviano Mejía	13.22	37,666
Vargas	Government	Jorge García Carneiro	61.57	83,937
		Opposition	Roberto Smith	32.19	44,939
		Independent	Carlos Mayora	2.81	3,925
Yaracuy	Government	Julio León	57.83	130,659
		Opposition	Filippo Lapi	28.91	65,313
		Independent	Edward Capdevielle	9.97	22,534
Zulia	Opposition	Pablo Pérez Álvarez	53.34	776,372
		Government	Gian Carlo di Martino	45.26	658,724
		Independent	Saady Bijani	0.71	10,423

Reception

According to the American think tank Freedom House, from this election on Venezuela ceased to be an electoral democracy,^[10] in part due to the disqualification of opposition candidates on corruption charges by stating that "the separation of powers is nearly nonexistent" in Venezuela.

References

General

• "Divulgación Elecciones Regionales 2008". Dirección General de Estadísticas Electorales (in Spanish). Caracas, Venezuela: Consejo Nacional Electoral. 23 November 2008. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.

Specific

1. Rondón Espín, Patricia (3 March 2008). "Chávez funda Partido Socialista Unido para apoyar su revolución". Reuters América Latina (in Spanish). United States: Thomson Reuters Corporate. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
2. Vinueza, Ramiro (9 December 2008). "Venezuela, un triunfo que reclama rectificaciones" (in Spanish). Voltaire Net. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
3. Wilpert, Gregory (6 August 2008). "Venezuelan Supreme Court Ratifies Candidate Disqualifications as Constitutional". Global Exchange. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
4. "Venezuela: Cracks Showing in Chavez's Control". Stratfor Global Intelligence. 6 August 2008. Archived from the original on 3 September 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
5. "Venezuelans local polls a popularity test for Chavez". Taipei Times. Taiwan: Liberty Times Group. 24 November 2008. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
6. "Cargos Que No Se Eligen 2008" (PDF). Dirección General de Estadísticas Electorales (in Spanish). Caracas, Venezuela: Consejo Nacional Electoral. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
7. "H. Capriles Radonski". Tal Cual (in Spanish). Caracas, Venezuela: Editorial La Mosca Analfabeta C.A. 12 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
8. Chirinos, Carlos (24 November 2008). "Todos ganan en Venezuela". BBC Mundo (in Spanish). United Kingdom: British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
9. "Curriculum del gobernador" (in Spanish). Zulia State Government. 2007. Archived from the original on 12 January 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
10. Freedom in the World report: Venezuela, 2009

Further reading

• Larry Hildes and Karen Weill (23 December 2008). "Surprising lessons from Venezuela's 2008 election". Seattle Times. United States: The Seattle Times Company. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.

• Carroll, Rory (24 November 2008). "Chavez party dominates in Venezuela regional elections". The Guardian. United Kingdom: Guardian News and Media. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.