2013 Venezuelan municipal elections
8 December 2013 (2013-12-08)
 
Alliance GPP MUD
Popular vote 5,216,522 4,373,910
Percentage 48.69% 39.34%
Results by state.
Red denotes states won by the Great Patriotic Pole. Blue denotes those won by the Coalition for Democratic Unity.

Municipal elections were held in Venezuela to elect 337 mayors and 2,455 local councillors for their respective 2013-2017 terms. Originally planned for 14 April 2013, due to the death of President Hugo Chávez and the announcement of a new presidential election to be held on that date, the municipal elections were rescheduled for 8 December 2013.[1] That date, 8 December 2013, was later announced by the president of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena.[2]

Conduct

President Nicolas Maduro, Chávez's successor and head of the GPP, utilized public resources to support GPP candidates. Public resources included workers, facilities and government funding.[3]

El Dakazo

Individuals grabbing items during El Dakazo

To build support for GPP candidates, President Maduro declared on 8 November 2013 the military occupation of Daka consumer stores which later evolved into similar operations involving other stores.[3] The government forced price cuts upon private businesses and as a result, GPP saw increased approval.[3] Head of the Superior Organ for the Defense of the Economy, Hebert García Plaza, later promised that "all the Venezuelan people will have the capacity to obtain a plasma television and a refrigerator of the latest generation".[4] The announcement of lowered prices sparked looting in multiple cities across Venezuela.[5]

As a result of El Dakazo, shortages in Venezuela intensified because businesses could not afford to import more products that were sold for artificially low prices.[6][7][8] In November 2014 one year later, some Daka stores still remained empty following the events.[9]

Results

It was announced on 20 August 2013 by the National Electoral Council that there are 19,167,416 voters, of which there are 18,952,292 Venezuelan nationals and 215,124 foreign residents with at least 10 years residency; however, only 19,066,431 voters will be entitled to vote, as 100,985 are Venezuelans residing abroad who have no voting rights for local elections.[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Elecciones municipales se harán el próximo 8 de diciembre". El Universal. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Elecciones municipales se harán el próximo 8 de diciembre". El Universal. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 López Maya, Margarita (2016). El ocaso del chavismo: Venezuela 2005-2015. pp. 373–374. ISBN 9788417014254.
  4. ↑ "El Dakazo: Lo que el viento no se llevó". Diario 2001. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  5. ↑ "Watch: Looting in Venezuela after government launches attack on 'bourgeois parasites'". EuroNews. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  6. ↑ "Maduro's crackdown on appliance stores may win key votes, but spurs uncertainty in Venezuela". Fox News. 13 November 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  7. ↑ Lopez, Virginia (15 November 2013). "Venezuelans muse on economic woes that make milk scarce but fridges a steal". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Cawthorne, Andrew; Rawlins, Carlos (9 November 2013). "Maduro government 'occupies' Venezuela electronics chain". Reuters. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  9. ↑ Lezama Aranguren, Erick (9 November 2014). "La resaca del "dakazo", un año después". El Tiempo. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
  10. ↑ Krystel León (22 August 2013). "Más de 19 millones de electores podrán votar en las municipales del 08 de diciembre". Noticias 24. Archived from the original on 29 November 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.