2012 Election
President Chavez announced that his intention to form a single "revolutionary" party - the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) - early in 2007. Chavez and other leaders of the ruling Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) stated that the party would be built upon Chavez' nation-wide election campaign structure and will inject more ideology and party discipline up and down the ranks of Chavez' supporters. As a first step toward this process, Chavez' MVR party dissolved on 18 December 2006, and numerous small pro-Chavez parties followed its example. After winning the 03 December 2006 presidential election by a wide margin, Chavez was in a solid position to impose what is essentially an MVR hostile take-over of the smaller pro-government parties.
The second-most popular political figure within the Chavista movement, Governor of Lara State Henri Falcon, announced 22 February 2010 in an open letter that he was leaving the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) for the allied Fatherland For All (PPT) party. Falcon alleged that the PSUV had been undermined by favoritism and a "poorly-understood concept of loyalty," and said that for years he had sought unsuccessfully to engage in a "frank dialogue without intermediaries" with Chavez. On February 23, PSUV leaders excoriated Falcon and announced the party had frozen relations with the PPT, asserting that they had "joined the counter-revolutionary movement." Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) spokesman Pedro Eusse said February 22 that Falcon's resignation showed the necessity for dialogue among the different factions that support Chavez. He argued that Falcon "had not abandoned the revolutionary struggle," and that an individual's change in party affiliation within the allied movement (PSUV, PPT, PCV) "did not make the governor a traitor." Eusse further pledged that the PCV membership continued to support the PSUV and should not be designated "counterrevolutionaries."
News of Falcon's announcement on February 22 was juxtaposed with coverage of Chavez's broadside the previous day against the potential opposition candidates for the September 2010 National Assembly elections, whom he referred to as "assassins, rapists, robbers, muggers, paramilitaries, and fugitives from justice." Falcon's non-confrontational style and savvy choice of words in his letter - "diversity," "dialogue," "participation," "inclusion," and the sentence "I adhere to the thesis that the ills of democracy are only cured by justice and more democracy" - threaten Chavez because they call to mind images of what Chavez is not: a leader who can reconcile competing national visions.
Falcon's stature as the most popular Chavista leader apart from Chavez was confirmed by Falcon's approval ratings in Lara and a few neighboring states, which far surpass those of the President. Falcon's potential command over a sizable electorate puts Chavez in a difficult position. If he brooked this disobedience, Chavez risked appearing weak and losing other disaffected Chavistas, who may judge that they can remain credible "revolutionaries" without necessarily staying in the party (and under Chavez's thumb). However, cracking down on Falcon - either by punishing the PPT or going after the governor personally, or both - could cause a public backlash among Falcon's supporters, jeopardizing PSUV support. Gubernatorial elections were held 16 December 2012, and Henri Falcon was re-elected, defeating the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) candidate Luis Reyes Reyes.
Pro-Chavez Venezuelans protest regularly throughout the country over government failures to provide services, pay public employees, and carry out entitlement programs. Demonstrations have been especially common in Chavez' home state of Barinas, where two pro-Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela state government factions came to blows. Chavez adeptly silenced internal wrangling in his government for the time being. In the long run, divisions within Chavismo will become more apparent in the absence of a unifying opposition threat. It is not possible to rule out the possibility that the fault lines in the party could become more serious; indeed, given the incapacity of the current opposition, the most likely source for a viable political counterpart to Chavismo is a breakaway faction within Chavismo. Chavismo as a whole did appear solid.
On Sunday 07 October 2012, Venezuelans went to the polls to either prolong President Hugo Chavez's 14-year rule for another six years [there are no term limits] or select his younger challenger Henrique Capriles. Hugo Rafael CHAVEZ Frias of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela [Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela PSUV] received 8,161,640 votes, 55.12% of the votes cast, while Henrique CAPRILES Radonski of Justice First [Primero Justicia PJ] received 6,554,725 votes, 44.27% of the votes cast. The support for Chavez was down slightly from 2006, when he received 62.85% of the votes cast, but about the same as the 56.93% he had received in the 2000 election and the 56.20% he received when first elected in 1998. With this victory, Chavez was free to further his socialist policies using the country's oil wealth and continue to support anti-U.S. governments around the world.
Around 19-million voters were initially expected to participate in the 2012 election with local analysts saying the ballot was too close to call, though in fact the actual results were lopsided. Venezuela's generally feeble opposition united around Henrique Capriles, a former governor who said he would maintain popular social programs but make the country more business-friendly. If challenger Henrique Capriles had won, Venezuela would have embraced more capitalist-oriented polices and shift its foreign policy. While the Venezuelan leader's health problems due to cancer were a prominent issue in the race, for many voters the election was a referendum on the results of Chavez's socialist policies.
On December 09, 2012 Hugo Chavez said he was returning to Cuba for more surgery, after a recurrence of cancer led him to name his vice president as his chosen successor should the disease force him from office. Chavez, who was re-elected in October for the 2013-2019 term, acknowledged the seriousness of his situation in a televised address. He said Vice President Nicolas Maduro would take over if he is incapacitated, and urged supporters to vote for Maduro if an election were held. President Chavez was scheduled to be sworn in for a new six-year term 10 January 2013. He had been in office for nearly 14 years, since 1999. His departure from office would trigger an election within 30 days.
On 5 March 2013, Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced that President Hugo Chavez had died in the capital Caracas, where he had been receiving treatment for an unknown form of cancer in his Pelvis. Chavez had been reported to have contracted an infection following after strong chemotherapy in a Caracas military hospital. Vice President Maduro also accused Venezuela's enemies of attacking the president with the cancer, but did not elaborate on how that could have been done. Other reports suggested that the suspicion had fallen on polonium or a similar toxic substance. Also on 5 March 2013, Venezuela expelled 2 US diplomats, accusing them of meeting with military officers and plotting to destabilize the government.
Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who was chosen by Chavez as his successor, was expected to face opposition from Henrique Capriles in the upcoming election which was due to take place within 30 days.
Executive Vice President of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro, said he had "no doubt" that "the historical enemies of the country sought for a weak spot to harm the health" of President Hugo Chavez. Maduro recalled that the president publicly expressed his view in this regard and there have been several similar cases in history. "The most recent is that of Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian people. Declassified documents and statements of people involved proved that he was inoculated with a disease, although, after the Palestinian people and major world leaders denounced this, Western media power immediately came to mock and distort that complaint," said Maduro.
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