Venezuela is one of the South American states that is at the center of the political interests of modern Russia. The current president of the country, Hugo Chavez, is known for his anti-American rhetoric and pursues an independent foreign and domestic policy with a socialist bias. In the upcoming presidential elections in 2012, Chavez has every chance of retaining the highest government post.
The head of state is elected in Venezuela through direct universal suffrage by a simple majority vote for a term of 6 years. Moreover, the same person can be re-elected to this position an unlimited number of times. The next presidential elections in Venezuela are scheduled for October 7, 2012, as stated in the decree of the country's National Electoral Council.
According to the Izvestia newspaper, incumbent President Hugo Chavez and opposition candidate Enrique Capriles will compete for the presidency this year. Registration of candidates by law is carried out in early June. In addition to Chavez and Capriles, several more candidates have applied for participation in the elections, but only two of them have real chances of winning, experts say.
From a formal point of view, all political parties in Venezuela, of which there are more than fifty, have the right to nominate their candidates for the presidency. However, not all of them are in a hurry to use this right.
Preliminary independent polls show that more than 50% of voters are ready to vote for Hugo Chavez, which is 13% more than the potential result of the single candidate from the Bloc of Democratic Unity, Enrique Capriles. Prior to registration, Capriles served as Governor of Miranda State.
President Chavez, in an interview with journalists from one of the state television channels, expressed confidence in his victory, stressing that he had fully recovered from the operation he went through in 2011 and was absolutely healthy. Hugo Chavez has been in power in Venezuela since 1999, and in 2012 he will run for president for the fourth time. During the reign of Chavez, a number of important social transformations took place in the country. The unemployment rate dropped, the oil industry and ferrous metallurgy were nationalized. State-owned companies are striving to conduct their activities on the Soviet model.
