Hugo Chávez’s Upcoming Test: A Preview of Venezuela’s September 26 Elections

Venezuelan politics have become increasingly polarized during President Hugo Chávez’s twelve years in office. The upcoming National Assembly elections are no exception, especially as the results are expected to be an important measure of the nation’s political pulse. On September 26, Venezuelans will go to the polls in a legislative election that many view as a national referendum on President Chávez and his controversial Bolivarian Revolution. This referendum is made even more significant by the fact that in just two years, Chávez himself will be up for reelection. According to a statement released by the Venezuelan Embassy, 6,428 candidates from 186 political parties are slated to participate. Having boycotted the 2005 National Assembly elections, the opposition coalition, known as the Coalition for Democratic Unity (MUD), now seeks to wrest a majority of seats from Chávez’s United Venezuela Socialist Party (PSUV), which currently controls 82 percent of the legislature.
While the extreme polarization of Venezuelan media and society undoubtedly affects the reliability of polling data, both pro-government and opposition sources indicate that the election will be close. According to the latest reports from Venezuelan polling companies Datanálisis and GIS XXI, the PSUV is slightly ahead, projected to receive 52 percent of the votes over the opposition’s 48 percent.

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