August 27, 2006
28 candidates to run for President of Venezuela

(Venezuelanalysis.com) - "28 candidates will compete in Venezuela's presidential elections this December. The announcement was made by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) after the deadline to register to run for president expired at midnight last Thursday night. The Venezuelan comedian known as the 'Count of Guácharo' was among the additional candidates to register this week.

According to an announcement by CNE president Tibisay Lucena, seven of the presidential hopefuls are women and eight of the candidates are running as independents. The rest are supported by 82 political organizations (including 48 for Manuel Rosales and 24 for Hugo Chávez) and 3 electoral groups.

The high number of presidential candidates for this year's Venezuelan elections is unprecedented for recent years. 11 candidates ran in 1998, and 3 in 2000.

Lucena announced that this is sign of the 'increase in political participation in Venezuela.'

Many also see the high number of candidates at this early stage as a good sign against the calls for abstention, which part of the opposition continues to make, including the former governing party, Accion Democratica (Democratic Action). Major opposition parties pulled out of last year's congressional elections just days before the vote, allowing parties in support of Chávez to take all of the seats in the National Assembly.

The high number of candidates also seems to detract from the earlier calls of a united opposition, which many, including the partially US-funded organization Sumate, have pushed for. But most of the opposition remains united behind Zulia state governor, Manuel Rosales, and other current candidates have stated their intention to support the leading opposition candidate as the elections near.

Of the presidential candidates, President Hugo Chávez and Manuel Rosales, who both announced their campaign teams last week, are by far the front-runners. Most polls rank Chávez well ahead, with around 60% of the vote, and Rosales in second with around 30%. The rest of the candidates have not received much attention, except for the comedian Benjamín Rausseo, who registered his candidacy with the CNE last week (...)".