2012: Maria Machado Lost the Opposition Presidential Primary with 4% of the Vote                                                     

The national presidential primary election of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) was held on February 12, 2012 to select a single official opposition candidate to run in the October Presidential election against President Hugo Chavez. In 2011, Maria Machado was the second candidate to register. To run in the primary, a candidate had to pay US$122,000 to the MUD coalition.

On the campaign trail, Machado took a confrontational hardline against Chavez [2]. Machado ran on a platform called “popular capitalism”- the same term used by Margaret Thatcher [1]. She said that Venezuela should be converted into “an ownership society”, and the national state-owned oil company (PDVSA) should be opened up to the stock market. She argued that the government should eliminate regulatory obstacles and that socialism perpetuated poverty. [1][3] Juan Carlos Hidalgo of the CATO Institute called Machado “A Breath of Fresh Air.” [3] Hidalgo wrote:” Her commitment to free market ideas is a welcome departure from the other opposition candidates who seem interested in perpetuating Venezuela’s entitlement culture.” [3]

In public opinion polls prior to the election, Machado never was the choice of more than 10% of the voters and she consistently polled far behind the frontrunner Henrique Capriles. Capriles’ campaign was conciliatory, pragmatic and non-ideological. He acknowledged Chavez’s contributions to the poor and pledged to continue popular government programs such as health care and education [4] His campaign was built around combating government inefficiency, crime and economic stagflation [4].

The primary was open to all Venezuelan voters regardless of political party membership. Three million people voted. Capriles won the primary with 62% of the vote, Pablo Perez was second with 30% and Machado was third with 4%. Machado conceded her loss before the vote count was complete and pledged to support Capriles.

  

1.Correo del Orinoco International, Opposition Candidate Maria Corina Machado Pledges “Popular Capitalism,” Venezuelanalysis, December 26, 2011

2.Associated Press, Venezuela’s opposition picks Chavez’s challenger, February 13, 2012

3. Hidalgo, Juan Carlos, Maria Corina Machado: A Breath of Fresh Air in Venezuela, CATO Institute Blog, October 12, 2011.

4. Amat, C. and Negroponte, D.V., The 2012 Venezuelan Elections: Hopes for Legitimacy, Brookings Commentary, March 9, 2012

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