1958 Venezuelan general election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General elections were held in Venezuela on 7 December 1958.[1] They were the first elections held after the overthrow of military ruler Marcos Pérez Jiménez earlier that year, and only the second free regular elections in the country's history.
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7 December 1958
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Presidential election | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered | 2,913,801 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 93.42% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results by state | |||||||||||||||||||||
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The presidential elections were won by Rómulo Betancourt of Democratic Action, who received 49% of the vote,[2][3] whilst his party won 73 of the 132 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 32 of the 51 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 93% in the presidential election and 92% in the Congressional elections.[4]
The Soviet Union covertly supported Wolfgang Larrazábal, who had led the coup against Pérez Jiménez and briefly served as provisional president, in the elections.[5]
Results
President
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rómulo Betancourt | Democratic Action | 1,284,092 | 49.18 | |
| Wolfgang Larrazábal | URD–PCV–MENI | 903,479 | 34.61 | |
| Rafael Caldera | Copei–IR–PST | 423,262 | 16.21 | |
| Total | 2,610,833 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 2,610,833 | 95.91 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 111,220 | 4.09 | ||
| Total votes | 2,722,053 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,913,801 | 93.42 | ||
| Source: Nohlen | ||||
Congress
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
| Chamber | +/– | Senate | +/– | |||||
| Democratic Action | 1,275,973 | 49.45 | 73 | –10 | 32 | –6 | ||
| Democratic Republican Union | 690,357 | 26.76 | 34 | +30 | 11 | +10 | ||
| Copei | 392,305 | 15.20 | 18 | +2 | 6 | +2 | ||
| Communist Party of Venezuela | 160,791 | 6.23 | 7 | +4 | 2 | +1 | ||
| Republican Integration | 19,424 | 0.75 | 0 | New | 0 | New | ||
| Socialist Workers' Party | 15,476 | 0.60 | 0 | New | 0 | New | ||
| Independent National Electoral Movement | 14,908 | 0.58 | 0 | New | 0 | New | ||
| Socialist Party of Venezuela | 10,983 | 0.43 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 2,580,217 | 100.00 | 132 | +22 | 51 | +5 | ||
| Valid votes | 2,580,217 | 96.10 | ||||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 104,732 | 3.90 | ||||||
| Total votes | 2,684,949 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 2,913,801 | 92.15 | ||||||
| Source: Nohlen | ||||||||