Unfortunately there was no upset in yesterday’s presidential election in Venezuela. Hugo Chávez handily won another six-year term with 54% of the vote. Despite running an inspiring campaign that at some point seemed to threaten Chávez’s rule, Henrique Capriles came up short with 44%. The vote was clean, even though the election wouldn’t be considered fair in any mature democracy.
What happened? It seems clear that Chávez was able to mobilize his people to the polls. Despite the mismanagement of the economy, the spike in crime, the crumbling infrastructure and widespread corruption, many Venezuelans still like Chávez. And he made sure to buy their love this year by increasing public spending in the last 12 months by 30% in real terms.
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