1. Local Government & Elections
Venezuela

4. Structure of the Venezuelan Municipality
Analogous to the county in the United States
Includes both urban and rural areas
In early times the boundaries of the municipality’s built environment accommodated more than one city
Now a single urban built environment often spills over into several municipalities

5. Venezuelan Municipal Government: The Tradition
Colonial Period
Playground for the Criollo elite
Role in independence movement
Post Independence decline
Centralization
Violence
Recentralization under “dictatorship light” of Guzman Blanco (1870 – 1888)
General José Antonio Guzmán Blanco

6. Juan Vicente Gómez (1908-1935 Personalistic Dictatorship
Centralization of Political Power
Distrito – unit of local government
Distrito officials appointed by the president
Economic transformation
Runs Venezuela like his ranch
Cattle deals used to build the state
Force and economic incentives ensure loyalty of the inner circle

7. Struggle to Consolidate Post-1958 Democracy Keeps Local Government Weak
Leftist insurgents threaten democratic governments
Centralized political parties resist decentralization
Party slates and proportional representation
Centralized political parties
AD (Social Democrats)
COPEI (Christian Democrats)

8. Struggle to Consolidate Post-1958 Democracy: Federal District Government in Caracas
Federal District includes part of Caracas with most centers of national government power
Federal District Governor named by the president
Close confidant of president
Controls budget
Controls police through office of prefect
Municipal Council weaker than in rest of the country

9. Municipal Reforms of 1978 Separate municipal elections
Soon after national elections
Retention of party slates and proportional representation
Creation of the role of city manager
President of Municipal Council as municipal executive
The situado
Hierarchical political parties marginalize the city manager

10. Decentralization Reforms 1989-1990 (Local Level)
Impetus: economic downturn of “Black Friday
The Caracazo
February 27, 28, 1989
Demands to participate
Demands for accountability
Increasing sophistication in “the interior”
Reduction in petroleum revenue
Two days of rioting in ten cities
200 + dead
Dissatisfaction with rule by centralized political parties

11. Caracazo: Wake Up Call for Punto Fijo Democracy

12. Municipal Reforms of 1988/1990:
Creation of office of popularly elected mayor
Strengthening of tax powers of municipio
Creation of elected neighborhood organizations (Juntas Parochiales)
Centralized political parties retain significant influence
Parties themselves not decentralized
Party dominated national political institutions retain great capabilities to allocate resources

13. Consequences of Municipal Reforms
Fragmentation of the system of political parties
National
State & local
Government of Rafael Caldera bypasses municipio governments in distributing resources
Local political machines take shape
Political bosses are only marginally more responsible to local interest groups than were their centrally controlled predecessors
Corruption remains a major problem
With the exception of Caracas – no efforts to develop metropolitan political institutions

14. Local Government and the Constitution of 1999
Government of President Hugo Chávez hostile to the decentralization reforms of 1989 – 90
Mechanism to coordinate and respond to demands from local governments not created
Following the failed coup of April 2004 President Chavez favors Communal Councils as an alternative to traditional forms of local government

15. Territorial Reforms: Constitutional Referendum of December 2007
Territorial reform as a component of transformation to “Twenty-First Century Socialism”
Division of the territory into five regions
Missions based in national government distribute resources directly to the Communal Councils
Traditional structures of local government wither away.