Washington, D.C.—Venezuelans will cast their ballots tomorrow to elect their next president. Most polls still show President Hugo Chávez leading the race. But challenger Henrique Capriles Radonski has become the most formidable opponent Chávez has ever faced.
Some pollsters consider Capriles to be tied with Chávez or within striking distance as the race enters its final week. The wide range of polling results and Capriles’ apparent momentum in the final stretch has created considerable uncertainty and tension.
WOLA Venezuela experts David Smilde (WOLA Senior Fellow and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Georgia) and John Walsh (WOLA Senior Associate) will be in Venezuela this week, and they will be commenting about the race, the candidates, and Election Day on the blog “Venezuela Human Rights and Politics.”
Visit WOLA’s Venezuela blog, where we’ve recently posted some resources that you might useful:
* An interview pollster Luis Vicente León, Director of Datanalisis, about undecided voters in Venezuela.
* A description of both campaigns’ voter mobilization strategies, with election-day turnout looming large as the race narrows in its final days.
* A meta-analysis of the last batch of polling results released to the public before the elections.
Contacts:
In Venezuela
David Smilde, WOLA Senior Fellow: 58-412-308-0603, dsmilde@gmail.com
John Walsh, WOLA Senior Associate: 1 (202) 213-4863, jwalsh@wola.org
In Washington, D.C.
Kristel Mucino, WOLA Communications Director: (617) 584-1713, press@wola.org
