2004 Venezuelan regional elections

The 2004 regional elections of Venezuela were held on 31 October 2004 to elect 22 governors and 2 metropolitan mayors for a four-year term beginning in 2004 and ending in 2008, when the next regional elections were held. The elections were originally scheduled for 26 September 2004, but faced technical issues and an application for annulment requested by the opposition, and were held under high political pressure after the events of the recall referendum of August 2004. The ongoing political crisis in the country and the proximity of the two electoral processes marked the environment of the elections, which were won with an overwhelming margin by the candidates supported by the president, Hugo Chavez.

A total 1,577 political organizations participated in the elections; however, abstention levels reached 52%. As a result, the opposition held two of the 22 governments but lost the Caracas and capital district mayorships. Henrique Salas Römer, who ran as a presidential candidate in 1998, lost the government of Carabobo to Luis Acosta Carlez. Claudio Fermin, who run for precedency in the elections of 2000, had no success at the metropolitan mayorship of Caracas, losing to Juan Barreto. Opposition candidate and incumbent governor Enrique Mendoza, who was considered as a possible future presidential candidate, lost the elections of the Miranda state to Diosdado Cabello. Manuel Rosales, who would later run for precedency in the elections of 2006, became the governor of the Zulia state.

Candidates

Following, the list of three main candidates according to their political affiliation (government, opposition and dissident or independent) ordered by number of votes attained. The political affiliation is determined by the political parties supporting each candidate. For the 2004 elections, government candidates were supported by the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) party; opposition candidates were supported by either Democratic Action (AD), Justice First Movement (PJ), A New Era (UNT), or the Political Electoral Independent Organization Committee (COPEI) party; and independent candidates were mostly supported by regional parties.

Metropolitan mayors

†	Indicates the winning candidate

Metropolitan Area	Affiliation	Candidate	%	Votes
Caracas	Government	Juan Barreto ‡	60.33	388,356
	Opposition	Claudio Fermin	39.28	252,881
	Independent	Reina Sequera	0.22	1,419
Capital District	Government	Freddy Bernal ‡	73.89	284,085
	Opposition	Carlos Melo	19.05	73,265
	Opposition	Jesus Suarez	5.79	22,269

Governors

†	Indicates the winning candidate

State	Affiliation	Candidate	%	Votes
Anzoátegui	Government	Tarek William Saab ‡	57.38	187,209
	Opposition	Antonio Barreto Sira	42.33	138,120
	Independent	Elias Lopez Portillo	0.11	370
Apure	Government	Jesus Aguilarte ‡	66.85	88,587
	Opposition	Luis Lippa	27.49	36,431
	Independent	Jose Montilla	4.55	6,040
Aragua	Government	Didalco Bolívar ‡	67.69	217,796
	Opposition	Margarita Tablante	22.09	71,085
	Independent	Luiz Augusto Zapata	5.17	16,654
Barinas	Government	Hugo de los R. Chavez ‡	76.26	135,674
	Opposition	Andres Eloy Camejo	13.85	24,651
	Independent	Rafael Rosales Peña	7.82	13,912
Bolívar	Government	Francisco Rangel ‡	58.84	146,329
	Opposition	Antonio Rojas Suarez	37.40	93,012
	Opposition	Jorge Carvajal	2.57	6,413
Carabobo	Government	Luis Acosta Carlez ‡	51.25	311,189
	Opposition	Henrique Salas Römer	48.01	291,519
	Independent	Jose Gregorio Ruiz	0.72	4,378
Cojedes	Government	Jhonny Yanez Rangel ‡	56.12	54,142
	Opposition	Alberto Galindez	36.32	35,044
	Independent	Jose Felipe Machado	0.16	4,013
Delta Amacuro	Government	Yelitza Santaella ‡	61.30	29,441
	Independent	Emeri Mata	37.15	17,843
	Opposition	Victor Cedeño	1.44	695
Falcón	Government	Jesús Montilla ‡	59.47	118,718
	Opposition	Luis Stefanelli	36.61	73,100
	Independent	Yoel Acosta Chirinos	3.46	6,922
Guárico	Government	Eduardo Manuitt ‡	78.45	115,010
	Opposition	Jose Malave Risso	18.75	27,495
	Independent	Alexis Bermudez	1.32	1,942
Lara	Government	Luis Reyes Reyes ‡	73.55	289,945
	Opposition	Orlando Fernandez	18.70	73,714
	Opposition	Mariano Navarro	4.39	17,307
Mérida	Government	Florencio Porras ‡	60.74	135,895
	Opposition	William Davila	21.66	48,465
	Opposition	Carlos Belandria	15.48	34,649
Miranda	Government	Diosdado Cabello ‡	51.87	345,752
	Opposition	Enrique Mendoza	48.12	320,731
Monagas	Government	Jose Briceño ‡	58.28	144,326
	Opposition	Guillermo Call	41.43	102,599
	Independent	Romulo Rojas	0.27	678
Nueva Esparta	Opposition	Morel Rodriguez ‡	51.32	66,432
	Government	Alexis Navarro Rojas	43.53	56,350
	Independent	Eustacio Aguilera	3.37	4,372
Portuguesa	Government	Antonia Muñoz ‡	59.98	128,370
	Opposition	Ivan Colmenares	34.67	74,206
	Independent	Angel Graterol	1.74	3,742
Sucre	Government	Ramon Martínez ‡	62.19	140,407
	Opposition	Ramiro Gomez	35.69	80,595
	Independent	Napoleon Barrios	1.50	3,404
Táchira	Government	Ronald Blanco ‡	57.47	169,587
	Opposition	Sergio Omar Calderon	39.88	117,682
	Independent	Jose Luis Rincon	2.29	6,763
Trujillo	Government	Gilmer Viloria ‡	54.30	101,141
	Opposition	Conrado Perez	28.06	52,257
	Independent	Oresteres Leal	14.79	27,546
Vargas	Government	Antonio Rodriguez ‡	55.22	38,920
	Independent	Roberto Smith	19.29	13,598
	Independent	Gladys Requena	10.21	7,200
Yaracuy	Government	Carlos Gimenez ‡	50.73	101,481
	Independent	Eduardo Lapi	47.40	94,835
	Opposition	Alfonso Puche	1.75	3,505
Zulia	Opposition	Manuel Rosales ‡	54.02	483,924
	Government	Alberto Gutierrez	44.42	397,927
	Independent	Francisco Arias Cardenas	0.56	5,092

References

General

• "Resultados Elecciones Regionales 2004". Dirección General de Estadísticas Electorales (in Spanish). Caracas, Venezuela: Consejo Nacional Electoral. 31 October 2004. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2012.

Specific

Further reading

• "Storm over Venezuela court reform". BBC News. United Kingdom: British Broadcasting Corporation. 30 April 2004. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
• Pérez Vigil, Ismael (2 November 2004). "El Gobierno y CNE en Venezuela, a lo Jalisco". Analítica.com (in Spanish). Venezuela: Analítica Consulting 1996. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
• Schvarz, Niko (4 November 2004). "Chávez arrasó en las elecciones regionales venezolanas". La Red 21 (in Spanish). Uruguay: 4Pixels SRL. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
• "Chávez celebró su "victoria gigantesca"". La Nación (in Spanish). Argentina: La Nación S.A. 2 November 2004. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.