Below is a chronology of the multiple votes held since Chávez won the presidency in December 1998.
Caracas . Hugo Chávez won the presidential elections in Venezuela this Sunday to achieve a third re-election, after defeating the opposition candidate, Henrique Capriles.
With this new mandate, Chávez will extend his presidency to 20 consecutive years.
Below is a chronology of the multiple votes held since Chávez won the presidency in December 1998:
2012. Presidential Elections . Chávez wins re-election with 54.42% of the vote compared to 44.97% for the unitary opposition candidate Capriles, promising to take socialism in Venezuela to a point of "no return."
2010 legislative elections . In September, the members of the National Assembly (AN) were elected until 2016. The ruling party won the majority of seats. However, the opposition celebrated that Chávez's party did not reach the two-thirds of the seats required to approve major reforms.
2009 Referendum on constitutional amendment . At the end of 2008, Chávez proposed a referendum to eliminate the limits on reelection of public offices established in the 1999 Constitution. The vote was held in February 2009 and the "Yes" won with almost 55% of the votes. .
2008 Regional elections . They were held at the end of November to elect 603 positions among governors, mayors and councilors. Although the opposition won emblematic states and mayoralties, the ruling PSUV managed to once again win the majority of the positions at stake.
2007 Referendum on constitutional reform
Chávez suffered his first electoral defeat after years of overwhelming victories when his proposal to reform the Constitution and deepen his socialist project was rejected by a very narrow margin.
2006 Presidential Election . In early December, Chávez was re-elected with 62% of the vote compared to 37% for opposition candidate Manuel Rosales, promising to lead Venezuela towards "21st Century Socialism."
2005 Legislative elections . The 165 seats in the Assembly were won by the ruling Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) - the group from which the PSUV was born - or parties sympathetic to Chávez, after the opposition withdrew from the race alleging lack of confidence in the electoral referee. . Abstention was 75%.
2004 Regional elections The ruling party won 22 of the 24 states and more than 80% of the mayoralties. The opposition weakened, losing six of the eight governorships it controlled and the vast majority of the 220 mayoralties it had held since 2000.
Referendum on remaining in power . In August, 59% of the nearly 10 million voters decided that Chávez should remain in power in a referendum activated by the opposition to revoke his mandate.
The opposition remembers the plebiscite as a "revocation referendum" and Chávez's followers call it a "ratification referendum", in a clear example of the political polarization in Venezuela.
2000 Presidential Election . Chávez obtained 60% of the votes compared to 37.5% for his main challenger, Francisco Arias, for the mandate that began in 2001. This event is known as the "mega-elections" since they were called after approving the new Magna Carta for all positions, including governors and mayors.
1999 December constituent referendum . 72% of voters approved the new Constitution, which began the so-called "Bolivarian Revolution."
The new Constitution determined the unicamerality of Congress - today the AN -, reorganized public powers, increased the presidential term from five to six years, established the possibility of immediate re-election for a period, granted the right to vote to active military personnel and, among others, he changed the name of the country to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
April constituent referendum . An overwhelming majority of around 90% of voters decided to call a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution. Abstention reached 62%.
1998 Presidential election . Chávez won with 56% of the votes compared to 40 percent for Henrique Salas Romer, his closest challenger. He took office on February 2, 1999, swearing an oath on the "moribund" Constitution of 1961.
