Friday, August 12, 2005
A final word on the elections
To wrap up the coverage of the Venezuelan local elections here are some nation wide voting numbers by party:
Chavez’s political party, the MVR, received 1,321,571 votes. This was far and away the most votes received by any party. But even more striking was how their allied parties did. Podemos received 231,751, Patria Para Todos 195,763 and the Communist Party of Venezuela 117,963. These were all quite impressive results.
By way of comparison the strongest opposition party (and the ones who were beating each other up the other day) Accion Democratica got 301,532 votes, less than a quarter of what the MVR received. The other opposition pretenders to the throne fared even worse. The yuppy party, Primero Justicia, got a paltry 143,979. I guess there just aren’t that many yuppies in Venezuela. And yet they would have everyone believe they are serious contenders to win the presidency in 2006. In fact, they are the only party that is already campaigning. At this rate they are going to need to be campaigning at least 20 years to have a shot. Two other opposition parties, the M.A.S. and Proyecto Venezuela, performed pathetically receiving 51,253 and 40,190 respectively.
As you can see, even if you add the four largest opposition parties together they didn’t get even HALF of what Chavez’s party got. And this is even leaving aside how well his allied parties did. This leaves the pro-Chavez forces very well positioned for the legislative elections in December. They will need to be much better organized and do a MUCH better job of mobilizing their supporters to vote. But their goal, of winning a two thirds majority in the Assembly, is well within their reach if they do their job.
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Chavez’s political party, the MVR, received 1,321,571 votes. This was far and away the most votes received by any party. But even more striking was how their allied parties did. Podemos received 231,751, Patria Para Todos 195,763 and the Communist Party of Venezuela 117,963. These were all quite impressive results.
By way of comparison the strongest opposition party (and the ones who were beating each other up the other day) Accion Democratica got 301,532 votes, less than a quarter of what the MVR received. The other opposition pretenders to the throne fared even worse. The yuppy party, Primero Justicia, got a paltry 143,979. I guess there just aren’t that many yuppies in Venezuela. And yet they would have everyone believe they are serious contenders to win the presidency in 2006. In fact, they are the only party that is already campaigning. At this rate they are going to need to be campaigning at least 20 years to have a shot. Two other opposition parties, the M.A.S. and Proyecto Venezuela, performed pathetically receiving 51,253 and 40,190 respectively.
As you can see, even if you add the four largest opposition parties together they didn’t get even HALF of what Chavez’s party got. And this is even leaving aside how well his allied parties did. This leaves the pro-Chavez forces very well positioned for the legislative elections in December. They will need to be much better organized and do a MUCH better job of mobilizing their supporters to vote. But their goal, of winning a two thirds majority in the Assembly, is well within their reach if they do their job.
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