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Political polarization and limited citizen trust in democratic institutions remain fundamental characteristics of the Venezuelan political system more than twelve years after Hugo Chávez was elected president on a platform of radical change. Despite the country’s sharp political division, President Chávez continues to enjoy substantial popular support as demonstrated by recent elections and ongoing public opinion polling. Actions by his administration, however, have raised serious concerns about erosion of democratic institutions and processes. For the sixth consecutive year, Venezuela is listed as a country of concern by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The 2011 review of Venezuela by the UN Human Rights Council reflected similar concerns.
Many Venezuelan analysts argue that the country’s current polarization is rooted in the collapse of the nation’s party system during the 1980s and 1990s. Since then, new political leaders and parties have emerged – including both President Chávez’s supporters and his opponents – with different proposals to address the country’s social and economic challenges, which include increased criminal violence, persistent poverty, high inflation and declining petroleum revenues. However, the deepening political polarization in Venezuela has severely limited opportunities for dialogue and collaboration across political parties and between elected officials and civil society. Tensions are likely to increase ahead of presidential elections scheduled for October 2012, during which President Chávez will seek another six-year term.
Current NDI Activities
Since undertaking its first Venezuela program in 1995, NDI has worked to encourage Venezuelan political leaders to engage in constructive, pluralistic debate on reforms to improve democratic governance as well as to promote adherence to international norms and standards for transparent electoral processes. Current Institute programs support regional efforts to exchange best practices and international experiences with political party leaders, elected officials and civic leaders on issues such as improving government service delivery, facilitating the political participation of marginalized populations and supporting exchanges of best practices regarding citizen participation in electoral processes.
Past NDI Activities
NDI conducted several different democracy strengthening activities and maintained a field presence in Venezuela until March 2011. As a neutral, non-partisan entity, the Institute works with political forces representing the full spectrum of political opinion. NDI programs have sought to help reduce political polarization and to support democratic practices by working with Venezuelans to share international experiences for the reform and modernization of political parties.
Party strengthening activities in Venezuela have consisted of technical assistance offered to leading political parties. Such assistance has included sharing international experiences, practices and informational materials for building inclusive, transparent and responsive political parties. By providing party strengthening materials and organizing exchanges with domestic and international practitioners who have successfully strengthened parties in other countries, NDI sought to assist Venezuelan parties with better responding to the needs of citizens and with strengthening their abilities to propose meaningful policies, offer assistance and work with both pro-government and opposition parties.
In addition, NDI has supported the integrity and transparency of electoral processes by sharing best practices learned by regional monitoring groups and NDI technical expertise gained through observation efforts in more than 80 countries with Venezuelan citizen groups. Election monitoring by nonpartisan civic organizations has played an important role in strengthening democracy in Latin America and other regions. Networks of independent volunteer observers have helped increase public confidence in election processes by deterring and exposing irregularities, providing a constructive avenue for popular political participation and collecting information to improve future elections. NDI shared information on effective election monitoring in support of Venezuelan nonpartisan election observation initiatives in various national and local elections since 1995.
In 2001, NDI sought to re-engage citizens in politics and political parties by promoting accountability at the municipal level. NDI partnered with Argentine Transparency International chapter Poder Ciudadano, a Venezuelan civic group, and six municipal governments to implement anti-corruption and accountability mechanisms to increase citizen input in decision-making and to encourage oversight of local government administration.
As part of its regional Political Leadership Program (LP), in 1999 and 2000, NDI provided assistance to emerging Venezuelan political leaders and their parties on topics such as political party renewal, strategic planning, negotiation and outreach to under-represented sectors of society. The LP seeks to develop the skills of emerging political leaders to promote modern, transparent and responsive political parties. LP participants represented the Venezuelan parties Acción Democrática, COPEI, Movimiento Quinta República, and Proyecto Venezuela.
Contact Information
For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:
Washington, D.C.
Jim Swigert, Senior Associate
jswigert@ndi.org
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