2002 Venezuela Presidential Election

Presidential elections were held in Venezuela on 30 November 2002 to elect the 46th President of the Republic of Venezuela. These were the first free elections since 1999, when Hugo Chavez contested and won the electoral challenge; his rule lasted until 2002, when he was ousted by the Armed Forces and replaced by acting Pedro Carmona.

The political landscape arrived to the period of general elections after years of authoritarian rule and economic decline, with an additional year of instability due to the military intervention and subsequent removal of pro-Chavez groups, organizations and militias. The Bolivarian Clubs were disbanded, the 5th Republic Movement declared illegal and it's leadership arrested and convicted. Despite this, President Carmona managed to improve relations with the United States and the western powers, and in August 2002 sanctions towards the nation were removed.

The two main candidates were Henrique Romer, who already attempted to run in the 2000 Venezuelan Presidential Election, losing to Chavez by a landslide. The election was described as fraudolent and so violent that Chavez ordered his supporters to "look for every opposition supporters and lynch them". Even if his phrase was regarded as a joke, few incidents were recorded of Romer supporters being beaten and killed by 5RM activists. Romer presented his candidacy in September 2002. An economist from Yale University, he supported economic neoliberalism as the only way to fix Venezuela troubled economy and to use oil reserves as a way to gain money for government programs, instead of increasing taxes. He also supported anti-corruption measures and a crackdown on crime, inflation and unemployment. He also promised to stage out Chavez populist economic measures, which were extremely dangerous and damaging for the economy. Although Carmona already lifted much of the restrictions and barred new reforms that would have consolidated Chavez economic road to socialism, few decrees still remained.

On the other side, an emerging politician who served as a member of the General Assembly from 2000 until 2002, Nicolas Maduro, joined the Socialist Union, a party that attempted to preserve Chavez legacy and circumvent the ban on the 5th Republic Movement. Maduro also organized a small alliance of left-wing parties, from socialists to communists. His political ideas were largely unknown to the population, and the media preferred Romer as the presidential candidate and concentrated interviews and TV services on him.