General elections were held in Venezuela on 1 December 1968.[1] The presidential election was won by Rafael Caldera of Copei, who received 29.1% of the vote.[2]Acción Democrática ("Democratic Action" - AD) remained the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate. Voter turnout was 96.7% in the presidential election and 94.5% in the Congressional elections.[3]
The election was shaped by the split in AD. Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa, then President of the Venezuelan Senate and President of AD, won the AD primary election (held in 1967). His nomination was overturned in favor of Gonzalo Barrios by the Rómulo Betancourt faction of AD, which considered Prieto Figueroa too left-wing.[4] Prieto Figueroa and a substantial number of his supporters then split from AD and formed a new party: the Movimiento Electoral del Pueblo ("People's Electoral Movement" - MEP).[4]
^ abSwanson, D. L.; Mancini, P. (1996) Politics, media, and modern democracy: an international study of innovations in electoral campaigning and their consequences, Greenwood Publishing Group, p244