Venezuela: The Life and Times of the Party System - Political ...

The second point concerns the impact of the electoral system itself. The basic principles
of the system were laid down in the trienio reforms and remained substantially unchanged until
the late 1980s. These include basic norms such as universal suffrage (all adults over 18), the
obligatory and secret character of the ballot, proportional representation for legislatures and only
a relative majority for president, and the constitution of a strong, independent body to oversee
elections and count votes (the Consejo Supremo Electoral). The voting system was designed to
be simple and easy for a largely illiterate population to use. For example, the parties have long
been identified with colors (white for AD, green for COPEI) a technique that reinforces the ease of
ballot choice. Several other features of the system are relevant here, most notably the
scheduling and integration of elections at all levels, the process of candidate selection, and the
operation of proportional representation.
Until 1979, when separate municipal elections were instituted, voting for public office in
Venezuela occurred only once every five years. To cast a ballot, voters had to make two choices:
one for president, by selecting or marking a large card with the appropriate party color or symbol;
and another by repeating the operation with a small card and thereby casting a vote for the
party’s slate for all legislative seats. This included candidates for the Senate and Chamber of
Deputies on the national level and also for state legislative assemblies and municipal councils.
Such an arrangement enhanced the power of nationally organized parties and national-level
leadership to define issues, select candidates, and control campaigns. Top leaders have long
controlled candidate selection completely, fixing the place each candidate receives on the party’s
slate. Because legislative seats are allocated by proportional representation, location on the list
has been critical to election. The structure of voting centers attention on differences among the
parties: until recently the actual names of candidates have been little known.
The emergence of a system dominated by competition between two heterogeneous and
broadly similar political parties is not exclusively an artifact of the electoral system. The kind of
proportional representation used in Venezuela allocates seats with minimal distortion and makes
it relatively easy for minor parties to gain some seats through a national quotient. Minor parties
rely almost exclusively on such ‘additional seats’ for their representation, while AD and COPEI
draw seats wholly from direct election (Tables 3 and 4).
Successful joint domination by AD and COPEI is basically a result of the overall
homogenization and nationalization of society and politics described earlier. The political impact
of regionalism, for example, has all but disappeared. Through all the national elections held since
1947, wherever AD was strong at the outset it has declined and then rebounded; where it was
weak it came up. The pattern holds in reverse for COPEI, with the result that each party’s vote is
broadly similar in all regions, states, and territories. National influences dominate and vote
swings are broadly similar in all areas: AD and COPEI compete evenly and in similar ways