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The 2008 regional elections of Venezuela were held on 23 November 2008 to choose 22 governors and 2 metropolitan mayors. The candidates were selected for a term beginning in 2008 and ending in 2012, when the next regional elections will be held. The 2008 regional elections were the second during the government of Hugo Chávez Frías and the first since he founded the United Socialist Party. In these elections, a total of 17,308 candidates competed for 603 elected positions; around 59 national and 236 regional political parties participated.
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During the elections, the Venezuelan General Comptroller banned almost 300 candidates who had been accused of corruption. The Supreme Tribunal ratified the bans and removed the candidates from the process. The government of the state of Amazonas and nine municipalities were not chosen in this elections because they had been elected after the 2004 regional elections. The Venezuelan opposition managed to attain the metropolitan municipality of Caracas, won by candidate Antonio Ledezma, as well as five state governments; the United Socialist Party, meanwhile, won seventeen.
Henrique Capriles Radonski, the former mayor of the Baruta municipality, became the governor of Miranda, defeating the incumbent, Diosdado Cabello. Adán Chávez, president Hugo Chavéz's brother, became the governor of Barinas. In Carabobo, Henrique Salas Feo, the son of former presidential candidate Henrique Salas Römer, defeated his opponent Mario Silva to become the governor. Pablo Pérez Álvarez became the governor Zulia; he succeeded Manuel Rosales, who had governed from 2000 until 2008 and was a presidential candidate in 2006.
Candidates
The following list shows the three main candidates according to their political affiliation (government, opposition and dissident or independent) ordered by number of votes attained. The political affiliation is determined by the political parties supporting each candidate. For the 2008 elections, government candidates were supported by the United Socialist Party; opposition candidates were supported by either Justice First, Democratic Action or the Political Electoral Independent Organization Committee parties; and independent candidates were mostly supported by regional parties.
Reception
According to the American think tank Freedom House, from this election on Venezuela ceased to be an electoral democracy, in part due to the disqualification of opposition candidates on corruption charges by stating that "the separation of powers is nearly nonexistent" in Venezuela.