Editing Elections in Venezuela (section)

==Party system==
{{See also|Politics of Venezuela|List of political parties in Venezuela}}

===Background===
[[File:RB, votando en los comicios del 27 de octubre de 1946.JPG|thumb|right|[[Rómulo Betancourt]] voting in the 1946 elections]]
[[Democracy in Venezuela]] developed during the twentieth century, with [[Democratic Action (Venezuela)|Democratic Action]] (founded in 1941) and its antecedents playing an important role in the early years. Democratic Action led the government during Venezuela's first democratic period ([[El Trienio Adeco|1945–1948]]). After an intervening decade of dictatorship (1948–1958) saw AD excluded from power, four [[President of Venezuela|Venezuelan presidents]] came from Democratic Action from the 1960s to the 1990s. This period, incorrectly called the "Fourth Republic" by [[Hugo Chavez]] and his followers, is marked by the development of the [[Punto Fijo Pact]] between the major parties (originally including the [[Democratic Republican Union]], which later dwindled in significance), with the notable exclusion of the [[Communist Party of Venezuela]]. By the end of the 1990s, however, the now two-party system's credibility was almost nonexistent, mostly because of the corruption and poverty that Venezuelans experienced because of the debt crisis developed during the 1980s. Democratic Action's last president ([[Carlos Andrés Pérez]]) was impeached for corruption in 1993, and spent several years in prison as a result. The other main traditional party [[Copei]], provided two Venezuelan presidents ([[Rafael Caldera]], 1969–1974, and [[Luis Herrera Campins]], 1979–1983).

===Current===
Confidence in the traditional parties collapsed enough that the [[1993 Venezuelan general election|1993 presidential elections]] were won by [[Rafael Caldera]] on around 30% of the vote, representing a new electoral coalition, [[National Convergence (Venezuela)|National Convergence]]. By 1998, support for Democratic Action and COPEI had fallen still further, and the [[1998 Venezuelan presidential election|1998 election]] was won by political outsider [[Hugo Chávez]].

Since then, a range of newer parties (such as [[A New Era]] and [[Justice First]]) have been more prominent in opposition to Chávez than the traditional main parties Democratic Action and COPEI. The [[United Socialist Party of Venezuela]] (''Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela'', PSUV) was created in 2007, uniting a number of smaller parties supporting Chávez' [[Bolivarian Revolution]] with Chávez' [[Fifth Republic Movement]]. It is the lead party of the [[Great Patriotic Pole]] coalition. The [[Democratic Unity Roundtable]] (''Mesa de la Unidad Democrática'', MUD), created in 2008, unites much of the opposition. [[Hugo Chávez]], the central figure of the Venezuelan political landscape since 1998, died in office in early 2013, and was succeeded by [[Nicolás Maduro]] (initially as interim President, before narrowly winning the [[2013 Venezuelan presidential election]]).