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1968 Venezuelan general election

1968 Venezuelan general election

← 1963 1 December 1968 1973 →
Presidential election
Turnout	96.73%
Nominee Rafael Caldera Gonzalo Barrios Party Copei Democratic Action Popular vote 1,083,712 1,050,806 Percentage 29.13% 28.24%   Nominee Miguel Burelli Luis Prieto Party URD MEP Popular vote 826,758 719,461 Percentage 22.22% 19.34%
President before election Raúl Leoni Democratic Action Elected President Rafael Caldera Copei

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General elections were held in Venezuela on 1 December 1968.^[1] The presidential election was won by Rafael CalderaofCopei, who received 29.1% of the vote.^[2] 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.^[3] 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 to an elected member of the opposition.

Background[edit]

The election was shaped by a split in AD. Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa, then President of the Venezuelan Senate 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 faction of AD, which considered Prieto Figueroa too left-wing.^[4] 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).^[4] Ultimately, Prieto finished fourth, but his 719,000 votes far exceeded the 32,900-vote gap between Caldera and Barrios.

Results[edit]

President[edit]

Congress[edit]

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Chamber	+/–	Senate	+/–
	Democratic Action	939,759	25.55	66	0	19	–3
	Copei	883,814	24.03	59	+20	16	+8
	People's Electoral Movement	475,909	12.94	25	New	5	New
	Nationalist Civic Crusade	402,351	10.94	21	New	4	New
	Democratic Republican Union	340,195	9.25	18	–11	3	–4
	Popular Democratic Front [es]	194,931	5.30	10	–6	2	–2
	Union for Progress	103,591	2.82	5	New	1	New
	Democratic National Front [es]	96,027	2.61	4	New	1	New
	Revolutionary Party of Nationalist Integration [es]	88,509	2.41	4	New	1	New
	Democratic Socialist Party	29,920	0.81	1	0	0	0
	National Action Movement	24,407	0.66	1	+1	0	0
	Independent Democratic Movement	18,337	0.50	0	New	0	New
	Independent Popular Alliance	18,332	0.50	0	New	0	New
	Independent National Electoral Movement	13,847	0.38	0	–1	0	0
	Revolutionary Independent Action	9,154	0.25	0	New	0	New
	National Opinion [es]	7,339	0.20	0	New	0	New
	18 other parties	31,662	0.86	0	–	0	–
Total		3,678,084	100.00	214	+35	52	+5
Valid votes		3,678,084	94.12
Invalid/blank votes		229,739	5.88
Total votes		3,907,823	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		4,134,928	94.51
Source: Nohlen

References[edit]