1999 Constituent Assembly presidential inauguration in February 1999Although Chávez promised to seek the support of the opposition-dominated Congress before starting the Constituent process, on his first day as President, Chávez decreed a call for a referendum to determine whether a new Constitution should be drafted using a method proposed by him. Once again, the opposition was caught divided: the
COPEI party,
Justice First and former candidate Irene Sáez, who had just formed an alliance with the Chavistas in the
Nueva Esparta state, supported the decree;
Henrique Salas Römer's
Project Venezuela and
Democratic Action (AD) criticized the manner in which Chávez was leading the process, arguing that it excluded the Congress. The
National Electoral Council (CNE) gave its approval after reviewing the bases proposed by the President, and the referendum was set for 25 April.
Henry Ramos Allup, from Democratic Action, criticized then the behavior of the bodies, saying that they presented an "obsequious attitude" towards the President. The result of the election of constituents was the over-representation of Chavismo in the Constituent Assembly and a crushing defeat for the opposition, which had once again gone to the polls divided. With 65% of the votes, Chavismo obtained more than 95% of the constituents. Although the great majority of the candidates were
civil society members, outside the political parties, the lack of unity atomized their efforts. As such, 33% of the forces that voted for candidates unrelated to the Chavismo, only managed to bring seven constituents, one of them being
Antonia Muñoz, a dissident Chavista who soon rejoined the ruling party. Although the Chavismo obtained near absolute control of the Constituent Assembly, this did not mean that Chávez did not find opposition within his own supporters to several of his proposals for the new Constitution. There were several important changes pushed by Chávez which had initially been discarded by the Constituent Assembly, and which were only admitted under direct pressure from the President. Among the main ones were the inclusion of the term "Bolivarian" in the official name of Venezuela, the suppression of the voting "second round" or ballot, and the restriction of the taxing powers of the states. Congressmen from Democratic Action, Copei and Project Venezuela protested the measure, which they called a
coup d'état, and called for an emergency session in the Federal Palace.
Aristóbulo Istúriz, president of the Constituent Assembly warned them that "the people would shut them down" if they tried to do so. On 27 August, opposition congressmen tried to enter the Congress but were repelled by Chavista sympathizers, who injured thirty of the first ones when they tried to jump over the fence surrounding the building. The Catholic Church mediated between the Constituent Assembly and the Congress, but although they managed to reach an agreement, the Congress continued to be reduced to its new role of delegated commission, sharing the building with the Constituent.Although in theory the Constituent Assembly also had the power to intervene the executive branch, the presidential powers, governors and mayors were left untouched, although the
Fatherland For All party, then part of the ruling party, considered the idea of removing three opposition governors using the constituent power. For his part, Chávez did not oppose to be ratified by the body, and was sworn in again before the Constituent. After over three months of work, the Constituent presented its draft constitution on 19 November, which was only opposed by four constituents:
Claudio Fermín,
Alberto Franceschi,
Jorge Olavarría and
Virgilio Ávila Vivas, who argued that power was being centralized and that a military estate was going to be formed. A referendum was then called for 15 December in order to approve or reject the text. Democratic Action, Copei, Justice First, Project Venezuela and
Fedecamaras campaigned against the approval of the Constitution. Although these forces agreed that a new Magna Carta was necessary in general, they were in complete disagreement with the result, where their representation had been symbolic. The
December 1999 constitutional referendum took place under the same climate of apathy as the one held in April, although the turnout rose to 44.37%. The new votes were endorsed to the opposition to the new constitution, as the Chavismo suffered marginal losses. Although the state of fragmentation of the partisan opposition, which seemed not to have overcome the 1998 defeat, did not allow them to assume an enthusiastic campaign for the "No", the opposition experienced an increase of 142% with respect to the last referendum. However, the majority of Venezuelans continued to show disinterest in the struggle between pro-government and opposition, even when the constitution was at stake. Venezuela was going through economic problems: although the price of oil had tripled since Chávez's arrival, the economy had sunk 7%, unemployment had increased, and foreign investors had moved away from the country. However, in spite of these problems and with the traditional political parties weakened, Chavez's reelection was imminent. Chávez's responded by criticizing his former colleagues, whom he reproached for "not having washed the rags at home". The new opposition leader received support from La Causa R and a handful of small leftist parties, although not from Democratic Action and Copei. Even though some analysts considered Arias Cardenas more pragmatic than Chávez, others such as
Eleazar Díaz Rangel declared that they were basically the same. Originally scheduled for 28 May, the directors of the National Electoral Council, appointed by the Chavista majority of the Constituent Assembly, proved to be inefficient, and only two days before the elections were to be held, the Supreme Court of Justice suspended them since the Electoral Council was not ready yet. Arias Cárdenas called his supporters to gather in front of the CNE to protest, but they were repelled by a group of Chavistas.
Decree 1011 In October 2000,
Hugo Chávez promoted the
Presidential Decree 1011 (), whose text partially modified the Regulations for the Exercise of the Teaching Profession by creating a new administrative figure, that of itinerant supervisors, which partially modified the Regulations for the Exercise of the Teaching Profession and created the figure of National Itinerant Supervisors in educational institutions, who could be appointed directly by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports. Their authorities and functions included reporting, accountability directly to the Minister of Education and even the appointment and removal of their directors. The decree also allowed Cuban teachers to participate in literacy plans in Venezuela. The decree was very controversial and generated the first opposition movement to the government of Hugo Chávez, which mobilized tens of thousands of people from civil society during the rest of the year 2000 to protest against the decree under the slogan "don't mess with my children". Civil groups and private sectors filed nullity actions before the Supreme Court of Justice against the creation of official supervisors; such legal actions were dismissed by the Supreme Court. On 1 April 2001, in the television program
Aló Presidente, he asked how the groups would react to the Education Law "if they scream for a decree" which establishes the supervision of schools. He declared that "he who does not owe it does not fear it" and therefore questioned the opposition of those "very small sectors" that participate in mobilizations such as the one carried out on 31 March in Caracas. Despite the insistence with the implementation of the decree, it could not be put into practice due to the opposition and the criticism of the civil society.
The 49 Laws Between 2001 and 2003, multiple chavistas started opposing Chávez as well. On August 4, Carmona coincides with Chavez at the
Venezuelan Military Academy, where the anniversary of the National Guard was being celebrated. According to Carmona, Chávez told he no longer wanted conflicts with Fedecámaras, and they plan a meeting on 22 August at the
Miraflores Presidential Palace. At the meeting, Carmona proposes to Chávez a plan to lower unemployment, at that time at 17%, improving conditions in order to increase private investment up to 20% of the GDP in five years, while the latter responds with a plan to strengthen the public sector. A dialogue table was then created between Fedecámaras and the government, the latter represented by
Jorge Giordani, Minister of Planning. The meetings did not bring results, despite the fact that they took place once a week and that Chávez was present in one of them. The government continued to elaborate 49 controversial laws without sharing their content with
Fedecámaras or its agrarian equivalent,
Fedenaga, which its critics argued violated Articles 206 and 211 of the Constitution. On 13 November, Chavez decrees the 49 laws under the
enabling law granted to him by the National Assembly in November 2000, a legal instrument which allowed him to legislate without the approval of the legislative power. Although originally two thirds of the Assembly were controlled by Chavismo, the situation had changed due to the fact that some deputies had become dissident and it was unlikely that Chávez would be able to obtain another enabling law, reason for which Chávez approved the laws the day before his special power expired. The laws included the Organic Hydrocarbons Law, the Fishing Law, the Special Law of Cooperative Associations and the General Ports Law, among others, but the Land and Agrarian Development Law was the most controversial. Under the last law, the Venezuelan government gained the power to take private lands if they exceeded the size limit imposed by law and were classified as
latifundiums, or if it considered that they were being exploited below their potential. Additionally, the State now had to approve the owner's use of the land, and all owners were obliged to prove the ownership of their lands before 18 December, under the risk of losing them if they did not do so. According to
The Miami Herald, at that time 95% of Venezuelan landowners did not have firm titles at the moment. Pedro Carmona suspends the dialogue with the national government and calls for an extraordinary assembly on 28 November. On that date he then proposes that a twelve-hour national strike be held on 10 December, and obtains the majority support of the business sector, although also the rejection of
Miguel Pérez Abad, president of
Fedeindustria. On May 4, the
Venezuelan Workers Confederation (CTV in Spanish), the main labor union of the country, joined Fedecámaras. Its general secretary,
Carlos Ortega, had defeated the chavista
Aristóbulo Istúriz in the CTV elections. The opposition political parties became divided in their opinions on how to overcome the political crisis: Democratic Action insisted in the Assembly on appointing a medical board to prove the President's mental incapacity; Francisco Arias Cárdenas and his deputies called for a consultative referendum, the
Movement for Socialism (MAS) asked for calling another Constituent Assembly; Justice First and the Catholic Church asked the government for a change of course. The strike was observed by 90% of the country, becoming Pedro Carmona and Carlos Ortega the opposition leaders. Tensions worsened on 7 April, when Chávez fired
PDVSA President
Guaicaipuro Lameda Montero and 5 of the 7 members of the board of directors, mocking each one in national television by name and blowing a referee whistle, as if to expel them from a football match. Chávez accused them of committing serious misconduct and sabotaging the state oil company, and also warned "I have no problem in scraping (firing) all of them, all of them, if all of them have to be scraped". The dismissed executives were Eddie Ramírez, managing director of the subsidiary
Palmaven; Juan Fernández, manager of financial planning and control; Horacio Medina, manager of negotiation strategy; Gonzalo Feijoo, senior advisor of refining strategy; Edgar Quijano and Alfredo Gómez, human resources labor advisors, and Carmen Elisa Hernández, project analyst of
PDVSA Gas.
April 2002 protests and coup attempt On 9 April 2002, the organizations of Fedecámaras, the
Venezuelan Workers Confederation and other civil, political and religious associations called for an indefinite general strike. That same day, Chávez meets with generals
Efraín Vásquez Velazco and
Manuel Rosendo, as well as with PDVSA's President
Gastón Parra, Attorney General
Isaías Rodríguez and deputies
Nicolás Maduro,
Ismael García and Cilia Flores. Also present were several Chavista Ministers, governors and mayors, general
Francisco Usón, the mayor of West Caracas
Freddy Bernal, and the former guerrilla
Guillermo García Ponce. Among other things, there was talk of applying the military contingency
Plan Ávila, of paying a bonus of one and a half million bolivars to the oil workers who did not join the strike, and even of simulating a traffic congestion on the
Francisco Fajardo Highway with chavista sympathizers to make it appear that the strike has not been effective. On 11 April, the third day of the strike, a rally was called for at PDVSA's headquarters in Chuao,
Caracas, led by Pedro Carmona, Carlos Ortega and Guaicaipuro Lameda, the rally finally turned into a march, with numbers estimated to be up to one million people, heading to the
Miraflores Palace to demand Hugo Chávez to resign from the presidency. When the march reached the
Llaguno Overpass. Opposition groups and Chavez supporters began to confront each other and were mostly controlled by the
Metropolitan Police, between 2:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. Several people were shot and killed, both opposition and pro-government demonstrators. swearing in as president amid the
2002 coup attempt In the early morning of 12 April, the Military High Command announced through the Minister of Defense,
Lucas Rincón Romero, that Chávez had been asked to resign as President of Venezuela, with Rincón declaring that he accepted. Chávez was transferred to
Fuerte Tiuna where he was imprisoned for a few hours, there he wrote a letter saying that he had not resigned, after which he was taken by helicopter to the prison in the
Orchila Island. By that date, Chavez' sympathizers had gone out to protest in front of the Miraflores Palace and in the Paratroopers Brigade in
Maracay. The same day, Pedro Carmona swore himself in as president of Venezuela, establishing a transitional government that would call for elections in December 2002. His first official act was the dissolution of the
National Assembly, the
Supreme Tribunal of Justice, the
National Electoral Council, the removal of the Attorney General, the Comptroller, and the Ombudsman, all governors, mayors and councilmen, and all diplomatic officials. The act also repealed all of the 49 enabling laws and changed the Constitution, by renaming the country as the Republic of Venezuela, taking away the Bolivarian qualifier. Part of the agenda left by Carmona Estanga in the Miraflores office included a new ministerial cabinet and the controversial
Carmona Decree. General
Raúl Isaías Baduel opposed Carmona's government and began to actively seek a way to restore Chávez to power.
Plaza Altamira Military On 22 October 2002, a group of fourteen military officers, both active and retired (including some who had been involved in the April coup), spoke out against the government in a
pronunciamiento in the
Altamira Square, eastern Caracas, declaring the square a "liberated zone" and inviting their fellow soldiers to join them with the aim of achieving Chávez's resignation. The group was widely supported by civil society, and during the course of the protest at least 102 more military personnel joined the group, as well as thousands of opposition demonstrators. On 6 December, waiter João de Gouveia, fired into the crowd gathered in the square, killing three people and wounding 25 others. João was subdued and handed over to the authorities moments later. On 20 February 2003, four other people participating in the rally, including three military personnel, were found dead, after apparently being abducted days earlier in the square. The government decided to let the protest continue, without repressing it. After several months, the rally lost momentum and failed to achieve its objectives.At the beginning, the strike only involved the companies of the employers' association and the unions affiliated to the Workers Federation, but soon PDVSA's directors and employees at the management level decided to support it. As such, the country was practically paralyzed. Only some state-owned companies, public land and air transportation, water, electricity and telephone services, and both the public and private media continued to work, although the latter decided to suspend their regular programming and the broadcasting of advertising, replacing it with political and informative programming 24 hours a day. Political spots were broadcast supporting the continuation or not of the strike and the holding of protests and marches in different parts of the country, promoted by the
Coordinadora Democrática opposition coalition or by the government. On 5 December, the crew of the oil tanker Pilín León declared rebellion and anchored the vessel in the navigation channel of
Lake Maracaibo. Most of the national media broadcast closely what was happening on a daily basis regarding the oil strike and other derived events, as well as other media such as newspapers or radio stations, although many ceased their broadcasting and others were censored. The government called in former PDVSA employees and technicians from universities and the Armed Forces in order to get the oil company working again. By the end of December, the objective was practically achieved, which was a hard blow for the promoters of the strike, and the strike weakened as the days went by. In mid-January 2003, the government managed to regain full control of PDVSA. The State decided to dismiss 15,000 employees for uncertain reasons, one of which was that they had been missing work for a long period of time. On 21 December, the tanker Pilín León was recovered and taken to a safe port through the navigation channel of Lake Maracaibo and under the
Rafael Urdaneta bridge. Finally, the opposition stopped the strike. Movements to start a recall referendum started years later.
2004 recall referendum In 2003,
Coordinadora Democrática at first demanded a consultative referendum, which was characterized for not being binding. Chávez affirmed that he would only accept the referendum foreseen in the constitution, but the opposition was initially against the option accepted by Chávez, arguing that it had to be held in the middle of the presidential term, mid-2004, and that they would not be willing to wait that long since the country could be plunged into civil unrest. Protests continued between January 2003, and in the following months the government accepted the request and prepared its "No" campaign. In August 2003, 3.2 million signatures were submitted to summon the referendum. Based on a legal technicality, the petition was rejected by the
National Electoral Council (CNE), filled with Chávez allies, calling it flawed, stating that the signatures had been collected prematurely (before the middle of the presidential term), and that the petition had to be redone. In September 2003, the government used a rapid mobilization squad to raid the Electoral Council offices.
The Economist reported that the government was punishing citizens who signed the referendum petition. Likewise, the government and some signers denounced threats of dismissal against workers of private businesses that did not prove that they signed against Chávez. rally during the
2004 referendum campaign to recall Chávez|250x250px In February 2004, on the television program
Aló Presidente episode 180, Chávez announced that he had signed a document asking the CNE to provide copies of all the signatures of the petitioners for the referendum, in order to expose the opposition's "mega fraud". The Electoral Council announced that the signatures presented had to be examined a second time, and on 27 February demonstrations to protest against the decision took place in Caracas and fifteen other cities, initially promoted by the
Bloque Democrático (Democratic Block), a radical sector of the opposition which rejected the recall referendum as "a trap of the regime". The opposition and government held negotiations and the demonstrations lasted for five days. Nine people were killed during the protests, The CNE ruled that it would allow a remediation process, which consisted of allowing a five-day period in May 2004 for those whose signatures were being questioned to confirm that they were authentic. At the end of this period, the number of signatures validated by the CNE reached 2,436,830, reaching the minimum number of signatures needed to call the referendum. During these days of signature validation, thousands of fake ID cards and equipment for their manufacture were confiscated in the course of police raids. The opposition argued that the equipment had been maliciously planted, while Chávez supporters argued that it was proof that the opposition had used the equipment to falsify signatures. The referendum was held on 15 August 2004 and included centers abroad, such as in the United States and Spain, which resulted in Chávez not being recalled. After the referendum the
Tascón List, containing personal data and signatures of those who supported the recall, was subsequently disseminated. People who were on the list were denied government benefits and jobs in the following years.
2005 parliamentary elections The government announced in 2005 the parliamentary elections scheduled for the end of the same year. Since its announcement, the process was highly criticized by Henry Ramos Allup (secretary general of
Democratic Action),
Teodoro Petkoff (
Movement for Socialism) and
Manuel Rosales (
A New Era). Democratic Action withdrew from the election on 28 November, six days before the electoral process, showing its distrust of the electoral body, the National Electoral Council (CNE). According to Ramos Allup, the fingerprint scanners allowed the electoral agencies to know which was the choice made by the voter, as demonstrated by computer technicians in the last few days before the CNE and international observers. He also denounced that the access to the software that registers the votes and the electoral roll was restricted to opponents and observers. On 30 November, COPEI, Project Venezuela, Justice First, A New Era and Movement for Socialism all withdrew from the elections too. The government did not postpone the elections and they were held on 4 December. The opposition managed that most of the voters abstained from voting in the process, which had a turnout of 25%. The ruling party took the majority of the parliament, achieving an
absolute majority to legislate. In February 2006 the
Organization of American States released a report expressing concern about the Venezuelans distrust towards the electoral authorities. Chavez accused the OAS of stigmatizing the results of the elections and called the report as a "dirty document".
2006 presidential elections With the upcoming
2006 presidential elections, opposition leaders debated on how they could choose a single candidate. Julio Borges, of Justice First, proposed holding primary elections for August 2006. Among the candidates were: Manuel Rosales (A New Era), Teodoro Petkoff (independent), Sergio Omar Calderón (Copei), Wiliam Ojeda (Un Solo Pueblo), Cecilia Sosa (Federal Republican Party), Enrique Tejera París (independent) and Vicente Brito (Republican Movement). The main candidates, Julio Borges and Teodoro Petkoff, agreed to withdraw from the pre-candidacy to endorse Manuel Rosales, based on his opinion polling support. More than thirty political and civil organizations publicly expressed their support to Rosales. The trade union bureau of Democratic Actions, as well as its regional components and many party leaders, announced that they would support the single opposition candidate in the December elections. Rosales received 36.91% of the vote in the presidential election. RCTV's directors declared that the channel's concession did not expire until 2021, calling the measure an abuse by the government, and demonstrations in support of the channel took place. Supreme Tribunal of Justice rejected an appeal that argued that the license revocation was illegal. On 19 May, over 30,000 people gathered in Caracas to protest the decision, while there were also marches in
Maracaibo,
Puerto La Cruz,
Valencia and other main cities in the country. A march in favor of the freedom of expression was organized on 21 May in Caracas, led by students and journalists. The Supreme Tribunal later reaffirmed Chávez's decision that RCTV had to end its transmissions by 27 May. Protests continued in the following days and thousands of demonstrators protested outside the CONATEL headquarters on May 28 and 29. Around twenty students had to be hospitalized in Caracas due to tear gas inhalation, and on May 28 four people were shot and wounded in Valencia. On 15 August 2007, Chávez presented 33 articles before the National Assembly, which was in charge of discussing the constitutional reform and once sanctioned, it was to be sent to the National Electoral Council (CNE). The proposals included turning Venezuela into a
socialist nation and indefinite re-election of the officeholders. The CNE received the project on 2 November, which in turn was presented to the Venezuelan public in two blocks of articles, each one with the options "YES" and "NO" to either accept or reject the request. The reform was rejected by the majority of the opposition leadership and the opposition started the campaign for the "NO". At first, Democratic Action called for abstention, called to vote for the "NO" at the end five days before the proposal. The political parties that registered in favor of the "NO" were Primero Justicia, A New Era, For Social Democracy, COPEI, Movement For Socialism,
Democratic Republican Union among others. The referendum results rejected the constitutional reforms. After the results were known, members of the A New Era party pointed out the need for national reconciliation, Manuel Rosales said that a dialogue process with Hugo Chávez should be initiated and also proposed that the aspects considered positive of the project be approved, including a social fund for the workers of the informal economy. Leopoldo López referred that it was the moment to end with the division of Venezuelans and that from the moment of the results, work for inclusion, peace and tolerance should begin. Hugo Chávez reacted by calling the results a "shit victory" for the opposition, saying "Know how to manage your victory, because you are already filling it with shit. It's a shitty victory and ours, call it a defeat, but it's one of courage." He also said that it was possible to summon a second referendum, stating "We are going on the offensive again. (...) We launched the first offensive for the great constitutional reform, but do not think it is over. Get ready, because a second offensive towards the constitutional reform will come", and that "If signatures are collected, this reform can be submitted to referendum again under other conditions, at another time, in this same place called Venezuela".
2008 regional elections In early January 2008, some opposition political parties expressed their willingness to sign a unitary agreement to run in the regional elections of November of that year. On 23 January, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the return of democracy to Venezuela, the coalition of National Unity (later known as the
Democratic Unity Roundtable) was created, formed by the political parties A New Era (UNT), Justice First (PJ), Democratic Action (AD), Copei, Movement For Socialism (MAS), Radical Cause, Project Venezuela (PRVZL), Fearless People's Alliance (ABP) and Popular Vanguard (VP), reached an agreement committing to present joint candidates in all the states and municipalities of the country. Other political parties representing the more radical opposition such as Alianza Popular, Comando Nacional de la Resistencia and Frente Patriótico denounced at the beginning that they were excluded from the agreement. With the document, called National Unity Agreement, they expected to seek unitary candidacies for the regional elections, besides proposing ten national objectives of their "vision of the country". The agreement also created a set of rules regarding decisions, including decisions being made by a majority of 3/5ths of members or 70% of the popular vote during election processes, the process to determine a joint candidate either through majority or a
primary election and a unified policy framework.
Ismael García, secretary general of Podemos and deputy for Aragua, announced on 29 April the support of his party to opposition candidates in the states of Lara and Miranda as well as in the Metropolitan District of Caracas for the regional elections. The elections were held on 28 November 2008. The
PSUV ruling party obtained 17 of the 22 governorships, representing 52% of the votes, while the opposition obtained 5 governorships, representing 41% of the votes.
2009 referendum On 8 June 2009, the National Unity Agreement was restructured to form the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), which is organized into 11 work units: relations with civil society, strategy, programs, human rights, decentralization, social affairs, international affairs, organization, mobilization and electoral issues. The MUD proposes to strengthen the Venezuelan democratic system, guarantee human rights, consolidate national sovereignty, achieve a productive, just and free society, and the highest level of well-being for its citizens, all based on the precepts of the Venezuelan Constitution. On 22 April 2010, they presented the programmatic proposals of the Unity Table, under the name of "100 solutions for the people", which broadened the political and social content of the opposition coalition. The opposition grouped within the National Unity coalition, as in the 2007 referendum process, maintained a position totally opposed to the approval of an amendment on the extension of the presidential term or immediate reelection. One of the first opponents to refer to the possibility of a constitutional amendment was Henry Ramos Allup, who assured that four constitutional changes would be attempted: the first one referring to reelection, another one to create the figure of regional vice presidents, in addition to a third amendment to give constitutional rank to the
Bolivarian Militia and to grant the power to the executive to appoint the magistrates of the
Supreme Tribunal of Justice, as well as the members of the Citizen Power, (the
Attorney General, the
Ombudsman and the Comptroller General). The then leader of the opposition party, Manuel Rosales, said that it was an insult to call for another election because "the collectivity is overwhelmed by so many problems and also by the high cost of living and inflation" and also because the proposal had already been rejected a year ago. After the official announcement, other opposition parties such as Acción Democrática (AD), Primero Justicia (PJ), Copei, Podemos and MAS, rejected the proposal as well. Leaders of Radical Cause rejected the intention of reelection, considering it unconstitutional, although they also expressed that the best way to defeat it would be through the vote and demonstrations. On 6 December 2008, they announced the formation of the "National Command for the No", but some of the opposition leaders such as
Omar Barboza and Julio Borges, from UNT and PJ, respectively, indicated that they would try legal actions for considering the constitutional amendment initiative as unconstitutional and antidemocratic. The official results indicated that the "Yes" option (to approve the amendment) obtained 54% of the votes, and that the "No" option (to reject the amendment) obtained 45% of the votes.
Movimiento Estudiantil and several opposition parties acknowledged the results of the CNE, but denounced the advantageism of the forces supporting the "Yes". Omar Barboza,
Tomás Guanipa (leader of Justice First), Ismael García for PODEMOS,
Freddy Guevara (metropolitan councilman), and student leader
David Smolansky, among other opposition figures, acknowledged the results.
2010 parliamentary elections For the
2010 legislative elections, a new block of parties joined the coalition, including Podemos, MIN Unidad and
Red Flag, among others. Most of them presented unitary candidacies, except for the parties Fuerza Liberal, Democracia Renovadora, Movimiento Laborista and Venezuela de Primera, which despite belonging to the
Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) did not support all the candidacies. Contrary to the case were the parties PANA, Conde, PMV, which although they are not formal members of the coalition, did support all their candidacies. The
Fatherland for All party, after breaking alliance with the
United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) ruling party, decided not to join the MUD coalition but to run its own independent candidates, becoming the third political force in the country with two elected deputies after receiving a total of 3.14% of the national vote. The MUD obtained 47.22% of the votes, but did not obtain the majority with 65 seats. The PSUV obtained 98 seats after received 48.13% of the votes due to
gerrymandering. However, this time it obtained a
simple majority, unlike 2005 when it held an
absolute majority.
2012 presidential elections The opposition discussed the possibility of participating in the election with a single electoral card in order to avoid the dispersion of the vote. Among the main proponents of this idea were Copei, MAS, Causa R, Democratic Action and Fearless People Alliance; while A New Era and Justice First, the two opposition parties with the highest vote in the last elections, did not support the proposal. However, on 30 July 2011 they announced that they had unanimously agreed to use a unitary card, only for the presidential election.
Henrique Capriles, founder of
Justice First, was chosen as the opposition presidential candidate for the
2012 presidential election. During his campaign, he also appealed to disillusioned chavista voters. == Maduro presidency ==