Media Advisory
Venezuela Approaches Post-Chávez Presidential Elections Follow WOLA Expert for On-the-Ground Analyses
Washington, D.C.—This coming Sunday, April 14, Venezuelans will return to the polls to elect a president. Hugo Chávez won reelection handily in October 2012, but succumbed to cancer last month. Sunday’s election will mark the first time since Chávez won office in 1998 that he is not on Venezuela’s presidential ballot. Hoping to harness the charisma of the late president, Nicolás Maduro, the acting president, has campaigned largely on his connection to Chávez. Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles is relying on voter mobilization to bridge the double-digit spread that polls suggest separate him and Maduro.
WOLA Senior Fellow David Smilde is in Caracas this week monitoring the campaign and Sunday’s elections, and will be regularly updating the Venezuela Politics and Human Rights blog with insights and analyses. Recently, the blog’s contributors have written on:
• Citizen Security in Post-Chávez Venezuela: Looking at Maduro’s Rhetoric
• Campaign Strategies in Venezuelan Election
• Will Venezuela’s Presidential Election Be Free and Fair?
For more information or for press inquiries, please contact:
In Venezuela
David Smilde
WOLA Senior Fellow
(+58) 412-308-0603
dsmilde@gmail.com
In Washington, D.C.
Kristel Mucino
WOLA Communications Director
(617) 584-1713
press@wola.org
