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DURING THE TWO YEARS OF PRESIDENT HUGO CHÁVEZ'S ILLNESS, THE VARIOUS imbalances that had characterized Venezuelan society since the beginning of his first term in 1999 deepened. His death, on March 5,2013, left an immense political vacuum. During the 14 years of his rule, political power and decision making were concentrated in the presidency. On December 8,2012, before leaving for Havana to undergo a last surgery from which he would never recover, Chávez announced that his successor would be Vice President and Chancellor Nicolás Maduro. Following the guidelines stipulated in the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CRB V), upon declaration of his death presidential elections were immediately convened and took place on April 14.
Maduro won, but the results were closer than the polls and analysts had anticipated. As had become the norm in the Chávez era, the electoral competition was characterized by the use of state resources for the campaign of the ruling party. State media and employees were also involved in the campaigns, further demonstrating the elimination of boundaries between state, government, and ruling party, with state powers subordinated to the "Revolution" (López Maya and Lander 2013; see also www.oevenezolano.org). The situation turned combative when the National Electoral Council (CNE) published its first bulletin reporting data from 90 percent of the polling places. The report showed only a 1.7 percent advantage for Maduro over Henrique Capriles Radonski of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).1
Maduro's triumphant discourse that night sounded awkward because it was out of proportion to the very slim lead he had. Six months earlier, candidate Hugo Chávez had won the presidential elections with an advantage of 11 percent. This noticeable weakening of power put Maduro and the ruling party in a difficult political position vis-à-vis the opposition and the Chavista base. In the following days, the president, his government, and his party opted to harden the polarizing discourse,denouncing a potential coup d'état from the extreme Right-whose head would be Capriles Radonski. They gave signs of condoning acts of violence against opposition leaders and supporters. This deepened the political crisis even more.
The Political Context2
The political crisis developing in Venezuela is marked by extensive political imbalances. These result from the dismantling of the liberal democratic institutions established in the...