2005 Venezuelan parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela on 4 December 2005 to elect the 167 deputies to the National Assembly of Venezuela, twelve deputies to the Latin American Parliament and five deputies to the Andean Parliament. Several days prior to the elections, five opposition parties unexpectedly withdrew, shortly after a dispute over the voting process had apparently been resolved with the support of the Organization of American States (OAS). The opposition had been expected to get around a third of the Assembly seats, or even less; the withdrawal meant the opposition were scarcely represented in the parliament at all, as the opposition parties which did not withdraw failed to win any seats. 114 seats went to the President's Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) – up from 86, with the remaining 53 going to "smaller pro-Chávez parties as well as to independents and representatives of some social groups that support the government".

2005 Venezuelan parliamentary election

4 December 2005
All 167 seats in the National Assembly 84 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	25.26
Party Leader Vote % Seats MVR and allies Hugo Chávez 85.49 164 MUPI 0.31 1 FIOPP 0.27 1 AMANSA – 1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Results by constituency and party-list vote by state. President of the NA before President of the NA Nicolás Maduro PSUV Cilia Flores PSUV

Both the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union sent delegations to observe the elections. In the runup to the election, there were concerns about the use of digital fingerprint scanners as part of the voting process. On 28 November the National Electoral Council (CNE), in a decision brokered by the OAS, announced that it would not use the controversial machines. Several days later five opposition parties withdrew from the elections.

Both the EU and the OAS noted a widespread distrust of the National Electoral Council. "The OAS delegation noted that there remains a distrust of the CNE on the part of a significant segment of the population in terms of the origin and composition of the CNE and the perception that its actions lack transparency and impartiality." The OAS recommended democratic discussion of various aspects of the electoral process to improve trust in the system.

The election proceeded largely without incident, although three small bombs were exploded in Caracas, injuring one police officer.

Campaign

Pre-election polls

"In the lead-up to the December 2005 election, observers predicted that the opposition would struggle to win one-third of the seats in the Assembly and that the pro-Chávez parties would win a two-thirds majority control of the legislature."

Electoral process audit

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). An audit was made in presence of the National Electoral Council (CNE), OAS international observers and several political parties. During the audit, the opposition argued that the electoral machines recorded the sequence of the votes, while fingerprint scanners recorded the information of each voter. 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. The fingerprint scanners were altogether not connected to and in different places than the voting machines, and the lines of voters at each of the machine groups were unrelated. The opposition put forward the case that it was possible to unscramble the information, stating that cross-matching the data between the two machines could potentially show the voting details of those who voted. The reconstruction of the data is possible due to the requirement of access to the voting machines and knowledge of the password. The CNE agreed to format the data held on the voting machines as soon as these finished transmitting their precinct totals to the CNE. As long as every voting machine also printed its precinct totals, it was easy for all involved parties to check the validity of the data as reported in both instances, the printed precinct totals and the partial results reported in the CNE tallying center.

Both the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union sent delegations to observe the elections. On 28 November the National Electoral Council (CNE), in a decision brokered by the OAS, announced that it would not use the controversial machines. The CNE stood by its claim that the fingerprint scanners were not usable to identify the votes. The same devices had been used on the 2004 recall referendum, and the state governors' elections that same year.

Political parties' withdrawal

Democratic Action (Acción Democrática) withdrew from the election on 28 November, six days before the electoral process, showing its distrust of the National Electoral Council. On 30 November, COPEI (the Social Christian Party of Venezuela), Project Venezuela (Proyecto Venezuela), Justice First (Primero Justicia), A New Era (Un Nuevo Tiempo) and Movement for Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo) all withdrew from the elections too. The political parties represented the majority of the opposition forces in the country.

The deadline for candidate withdrawal was Saturday, 3 December, at 4:00 pm. The CNE announced that not all of the boycotting political parties formally withdrew, meaning that only 10.08% of the candidates were officially out of the elections. The withdrawals left most opposition parties outside the election. Red Flag Party (Partido Bandera Roja) and Democratic Left (Izquierda Democrática) participated in the election but won no seats.

Results

The CNE announced preliminary results that showed that the pro-Chávez party Fifth Republic Movement won 114 out of 167 seats in the National Assembly, and all other seats were won by allied parties. The Fifth Republic Movement list also received 89% of the vote for the Latin American Parliament and the Andean Parliament. The turnout in the election was about 25% compared to 50 to 60% in previous parliamentary elections (1998 and 2000).

The results were a very important issue in Venezuela, since a two-thirds majority in parliament was needed to change the constitution and the elections gave the Fifth Republic Movement a sufficient majority to change the constitution with or without the support of other political parties.

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Fifth Republic Movement	1,871,860	55.08	118
	Unit of Election Winners	169,433	4.99
	For Social Democracy	277,482	8.16	18
	Fatherland for All	197,459	5.81	10
	Communist Party of Venezuela	94,606	2.78	7
	Optimistic People	61,789	1.82	1
	Venezuelan Popular Unity	46,232	1.36	1
	Tupamaro	42,893	1.26	0
	People's Electoral Movement	38,690	1.14	1
	Independents for National Community	31,144	0.92	0
	MIGATO	25,710	0.76	1
	Mobare 200-4F	22,995	0.68	0
	Militant Civic Movement	21,012	0.62	0
	Movement of Integration for the People	20,482	0.60	2
	Radical Cause	18,960	0.56	0
	Republican Movement	18,601	0.55	0
	United for Human Rights	18,208	0.54	0
	Only One People	15,981	0.47	0
	Justice First	15,939	0.47	0
	National Salvation Movement	14,139	0.42	0
	Emerging Popele	12,924	0.38	0
	Socialist League	11,930	0.35	0
	PVL	11,342	0.33	0
	Social Independent Alliance of Sucre	10,515	0.31	0
	United Movement of Indigenous Peoples	10,493	0.31	1
	Network of People	9,840	0.29	0
	Patriotic Union	9,128	0.27	0
	Movement for Socialism	9,118	0.27	0
	Organised Independent Front for Portuguesa	9,042	0.27	1
	Labour Power	8,272	0.24	0
	Democratic Action	8,000	0.24	0
	Active Nationalist Democracy Organisation	7,868	0.23	0
	Agricultural Action	7,843	0.23	0
	Popular Front	6,885	0.20	0
	Independent Electoral Political Organisation Committee	6,730	0.20	0
	Independent Movement for Maracaibo	6,213	0.18	0
	Independent Movement for Zulia	6,058	0.18	0
	Alternative Revolutionary Independent Movement of Guarico	5,808	0.17	0
	Project Venezuela	5,645	0.17	0
	RZ-2021	5,158	0.15	0
	Patriotic Union of Carabobo	4,899	0.14	0
	Open the Gap	4,599	0.14	1
	Movement for Direct Democracy	4,553	0.13	0
	Dialogue	4,365	0.13	0
	For the Love of the City	3,667	0.11	0
	Free Voters	3,604	0.11	0
	Renewing Democracy	3,490	0.10	0
	Solution	3,391	0.10	0
	United Youth in National Action with Bimba	3,357	0.10	0
	Independent Organisation for Reunification and Stability	3,220	0.09	0
	Frutos Regional Party	3,209	0.09	0
	Let Us Break Chains	3,194	0.09	0
	United Multi-Ethnic Peoples of Amazonas	3,180	0.09	1
	Independent Ethnic Rescue with Alternative Ideals	3,102	0.09	0
	Consensus	2,928	0.09	0
	Rebirth	2,911	0.09	0
	New Dawn	2,836	0.08	0
	Democratic Republican Union	2,776	0.08	0
	National Opinion	2,774	0.08	0
	Red Flag Party	2,691	0.08	0
	New Day	2,680	0.08	0
	Movement of New People	2,635	0.08	0
	Portuguesa is First	2,582	0.08	0
	Independent Solidarity	2,484	0.07	0
	Revolution in the Region	2,333	0.07	0
	National Integration Front	2,321	0.07	0
	Movement of Participation and Protagonism of the People	2,296	0.07	0
	Centre	2,282	0.07	0
	HALCOM	2,188	0.06	0
	Democrat Party	2,173	0.06	0
	MISOLA Party	2,163	0.06	0
	Indigenous Parliament of Venezuela	2,138	0.06	0
	FRD	2,084	0.06	0
	Venezuela First	1,961	0.06	0
	Cojedes Regional Force of Integration	1,908	0.06	0
	Solidarity	1,883	0.06	0
	Movimiento Conciencia de País	1,788	0.05	0
	Zamoranos de Venezuela Patria y Vida	1,750	0.05	0
	Popular Organization for Work and Revolutionary Action	1,672	0.05	0
	Left	1,646	0.05	0
	Labour Movement	1,578	0.05	0
	LGP	1,567	0.05	0
	LG	1,522	0.04	0
	PRR	1,522	0.04	0
	Electoral Generation of Monagüense Integrity	1,489	0.04	0
	FAI	1,442	0.04	0
	MPSDCP	1,430	0.04	0
	Movimiento Independiente Revolucionario Alternativo	1,280	0.04	0
	Venezuelan Revolutionary Currents	1,225	0.04	0
	AZ	1,191	0.04	0
	Volunteers for Democracy	1,190	0.04	0
	MAPV Party	1,163	0.03	0
	Constructors of a Country	1,159	0.03	0
	PDI	1,149	0.03	0
	Jose Hernandez IP	1,131	0.03	0
	PODER 7	1,120	0.03	0
	Third Millennium Venezuela	1,081	0.03	0
	OFI	1,050	0.03	0
	CD	1,036	0.03	0
	Organised Youth of Venezuela	1,007	0.03	0
	MT	989	0.03	0
	National Party	952	0.03	0
	Independent Community Organized Movement	923	0.03	0
	21st Century Movement	923	0.03	0
	NED	895	0.03	0
	Community Change Response Networks	885	0.03	0
	NE	883	0.03	0
	MPRCOL	845	0.02	0
	FUVE	831	0.02	0
	PROSOYAR	814	0.02	0
	Militant Compromise	810	0.02	0
	Neighbourhood Community Movement	794	0.02	0
	Independent Organized Generation of Electoral Tactics	774	0.02	0
	MRGD	767	0.02	0
	ESO	753	0.02	0
	Urgencia Solidaria de Transformación Estadal Democrática	749	0.02	0
	The Spark	720	0.02	0
	UPR	706	0.02	0
	Deltana Justice	703	0.02	0
	UNI	703	0.02	0
	National Democracy Party	701	0.02	0
	Testimonio Optimista Neoespartano Generador de Oportunidades	665	0.02	0
	PA	662	0.02	0
	FLACSI	661	0.02	0
	Neighbourhood Activity Political Party	655	0.02	0
	Liberal Force	644	0.02	0
	FVI	626	0.02	0
	Vision Venezuela	615	0.02	0
	Authentic Renewal Organization	606	0.02	0
	Together for Trujillo Movement	601	0.02	0
	New Pact	599	0.02	0
	United for the State of Monagas	589	0.02	0
	MIODUDO	587	0.02	0
	MH	580	0.02	0
	Communal Alliance of Miranda	574	0.02	0
	Growing Vision	560	0.02	0
	Movement of National Action	559	0.02	0
	Independente Popular Alliance	553	0.02	0
	United Front Movement	545	0.02	0
	Experiencia Social Tenacidad Adelante Nosotros Ganamos	541	0.02	0
	COAS	518	0.02	0
	ARDE	511	0.02	0
	Socialist Left Party	507	0.01	0
	National Independent Union of Social Organizations	505	0.01	0
	MOE	491	0.01	0
	OI	486	0.01	0
	We Are Vargas Independent Movement	483	0.01	0
	MOMASO	474	0.01	0
	PCH	469	0.01	0
	AAmazonian Citizen Action	468	0.01	0
	MOMUDEMI	468	0.01	0
	PTC	468	0.01	0
	Patriotic Union of Guarico	451	0.01	0
	FURPAR	448	0.01	0
	FELO	443	0.01	0
	Marlene Diaz IP	440	0.01	0
	REACA	436	0.01	0
	GETION	425	0.01	0
	MIVO	425	0.01	0
	National Independent Organization	425	0.01	0
	TUV	418	0.01	0
	Civil Society 95	417	0.01	0
	Independents for Venezuela Party	416	0.01	0
	LAP	414	0.01	0
	TIO	408	0.01	0
	Nationalist Civic Crusade	406	0.01	0
	Project Carabobo	406	0.01	0
	The People Advance	403	0.01	0
	Republican Vanguard Force	399	0.01	0
	FURE 2003	390	0.01	0
	LPBUENA	388	0.01	0
	Renovación Organizada Grupo Emergente	388	0.01	0
	EB	379	0.01	0
	Amigos de Alianza Libertadora Independente	378	0.01	0
	RIN	375	0.01	0
	PANV	369	0.01	0
	MRG2000	365	0.01	0
	MLiberal United People's Movement	363	0.01	0
	National Authentic Party	362	0.01	0
	PRE‐VE	357	0.01	0
	MARADE	355	0.01	0
	Caroni Decides	352	0.01	0
	Popular Youth Rising	348	0.01	0
	URM 2021	342	0.01	0
	ORECOM	341	0.01	0
	Independent Revolutionary Union	340	0.01	0
	Independents for Venezuela	336	0.01	0
	Federal Republican Party	326	0.01	0
	ED	323	0.01	0
	VINE	320	0.01	0
	Organised Independent Party	317	0.01	0
	TC	315	0.01	0
	The Alliance	310	0.01	0
	Popular Christian Movement	308	0.01	0
	PORD	308	0.01	0
	Luces	299	0.01	0
	Independents to 2000	296	0.01	0
	MORAL	295	0.01	0
	MIL	289	0.01	0
	REALCI	284	0.01	0
	Avanagua Party	276	0.01	0
	UBARI	274	0.01	0
	IPGENERO	267	0.01	0
	MOVELA	265	0.01	0
	RDP	265	0.01	0
	National Rescue	265	0.01	0
	Independent Amazonian Indigenous Movement	262	0.01	0
	RESISTE	260	0.01	0
	GEP	258	0.01	0
	UREVAR	257	0.01	0
	Sandinista Renewal Movement	253	0.01	0
	Rumbo Seguro	252	0.01	0
	Caduaico Party	250	0.01	0
	My People of Aragua Movement	250	0.01	0
	Centro Histórico Ético De Opinión	249	0.01	0
	RASA	249	0.01	0
	CER	248	0.01	0
	Strength with Cati	248	0.01	0
	Municipal Action	247	0.01	0
	ARI	247	0.01	0
	PUNTO	243	0.01	0
	PILA	241	0.01	0
	Moral Reserve	238	0.01	0
	Independent Candidate	235	0.01	0
	Social Cause	231	0.01	0
	DMAA	225	0.01	0
	OPC 98	225	0.01	0
	HP	222	0.01	0
	El Barrio	219	0.01	0
	MJV	218	0.01	0
	MIPREA	217	0.01	0
	Propuesta Independiente Local Organizado Naciente	213	0.01	0
	Rodolfo Parra IP	209	0.01	0
	Epales	208	0.01	0
	UNEI	207	0.01	0
	VE	207	0.01	0
	MLI	205	0.01	0
	CA	203	0.01	0
	FIMP	202	0.01	0
	FUCI	202	0.01	0
	POP	202	0.01	0
	BIEM	200	0.01	0
	MIVEy	200	0.01	0
	FUERTE	193	0.01	0
	Mirandan People	193	0.01	0
	PEI	191	0.01	0
	CF	190	0.01	0
	Independent Movement	190	0.01	0
	LAC	189	0.01	0
	Popular Base	188	0.01	0
	COIN	183	0.01	0
	MIO	183	0.01	0
	Advanced Regional Movement	176	0.01	0
	Ideal	174	0.01	0
	EPSA	168	0.00	0
	Arcomun	162	0.00	0
	PFPy	160	0.00	0
	Civic Democratic Front	158	0.00	0
	Guaraira Party	154	0.00	0
	Aserne Party	152	0.00	0
	Yaracuy Movimos	148	0.00	0
	AV-98	146	0.00	0
	The Third Way	142	0.00	0
	Popular Tribune	139	0.00	0
	DS	138	0.00	0
	RRP	138	0.00	0
	MEA	136	0.00	0
	PG	135	0.00	0
	Justicia, Rectitud, Lealtad	125	0.00	0
	Ritmo	122	0.00	0
	Bolivarian Military Civic Front	119	0.00	0
	Nosotros Organizados Elegimos	119	0.00	0
	Migdonio Barrios- IP	115	0.00	0
	Communal Alliance of Guárico	112	0.00	0
	Citizens United for Democracy	109	0.00	0
	LD	109	0.00	0
	UFS	109	0.00	0
	People of Vargas	108	0.00	0
	TANETANE	101	0.00	0
	UCP	100	0.00	0
	G-2000	95	0.00	0
	New Direction of Amazonas	93	0.00	0
	IS	87	0.00	0
	UNEA	85	0.00	0
	Citizen Force	84	0.00	0
	Popular Democratic Force	82	0.00	0
	AB­‐2000	80	0.00	0
	UNA POBA	76	0.00	0
	Teofilio Araya IP	72	0.00	0
	PRID	68	0.00	0
	MISOL	67	0.00	0
	Oriente	63	0.00	0
	PAR	60	0.00	0
	New Party	59	0.00	0
	Famay	58	0.00	0
	Andi	57	0.00	0
	MIIO	57	0.00	0
	BS-­‐21 Party	49	0.00	0
	PCYVSNE	48	0.00	0
	PNL	42	0.00	0
	MIADELA	23	0.00	0
	POPA	8	0.00	0
	PISF	6	0.00	0
	AMANSA			1
	Indigenous seats			3
Total		3,398,567	100.00	167
Valid votes		3,398,567	94.28
Invalid/blank votes		206,174	5.72
Total votes		3,604,741	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		14,272,964	25.26
Source: Election Passport, CNE, OPLAL

Reactions

The opposition and international observers said that the abstention rate of about 75% demonstrated a deep distrust in the electoral process and the Chávez government.

After the elections, divisions emerged over the last minute withdrawal from the elections. Primero Justicia followers in particular regretted missing the opportunity to be seen as the major opposition after the withdrawal of Democratic Action and COPEI.

"The move surprised election officials, and some reports indicate that international observers were unhappy that the opposition had reneged on a commitment to participate in the elections if the digital fingerprint machines were not used." "In particular, the EU stated the CNE's decision to eliminate the digital fingerprint devices from the voting process was timely, effective, and constructive, and noted with surprise the opposition's withdrawal just four days before the election." The OAS criticized the withdrawal, saying that democracy requires an opposition committed to the electoral process.

The New York Times said that "The opposition decision appeared to be aimed at appealing to international support and discrediting Venezuela's government, which has strong approval ratings." José Miguel Vivanco, the Americas director of Human Rights Watch, was quoted as saying "It's really hard to understand what exactly the political opposition leadership has in mind. But certainly it is not going to help them to present themselves as victims that deserve solidarity from the international community. With these kinds of tactics I don't think they'll gain any ground."

External links

• Con cerca del 70% de abstención, Chávez obtiene la victoria en las elecciones legislativas, Wikinoticias, 5 December 2005
• La oposición se retira de las elecciones legislativas en Venezuela, Wikinoticias, 3 December 2005
• (in Spanish) OAS section on the Venezuelan parliamentary elections, 2005