1958 Venezuelan general election

General elections were held in Venezuela on 7 December 1958.[1] The presidential elections were won by Rómulo Betancourt of Democratic Action, who received 49.2% of the vote,[2] whilst his party won 73 of the 132 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 32 of the 51 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 94.4% in the presidential election and 92.1% in the Congressional elections.[3]

1958 Venezuelan presidential election

7 December 1958
Turnout	94.4% (presidential) 92.1% (congressional)
Nominee Rómulo Betancourt Wolfgang Larrazábal Rafael Caldera Party Democratic Action URD-PCV COPEI Home state Miranda Yaracuy Yaracuy Popular vote 1,284,092 903,479 423,262 Percentage 49.2% 34.6% 16.21%
President before election Wolfgang Larrazábal URD Elected President Rómulo Betancourt Democratic Action

The Soviet Union covertly supported Wolfgang Larrazábal in the elections.[4]

Results

President

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
Rómulo Betancourt	Democratic Action	1,284,092	49.2
Wolfgang Larrazábal	URD-PCV-MENI	903,479	34.6
Rafael Caldera	Copei-IR-PST	423,262	16.2
Invalid/blank votes		111,220	–
Total		2,722,053	100
Source: Nohlen

Congress

Party	Votes	%	Seats
			Chamber	+/-	Senate	+/-
Democratic Action	1,275,973	49.5	73	-10	32	-6
Democratic Republican Union	690,357	26.8	34	+30	11	+10
Copei	392,305	15.2	18	+2	6	+2
Communist Party of Venezuela	160,791	6.2	7	+4	2	+1
Republican Integration	19,424	0.8	0	New	0	New
Socialist Workers' Party	15,476	0.6	0	New	0	New
Independent National Electoral Movement	14,908	0.6	0	New	0	New
Socialist Party of Venezuela	10,983	0.4	0	0	0	0
Invalid/blank votes	104,732	–	–	–	–	–
Total	2,684,949	100	132	+22	51	+5
Source: Nohlen

References

1. Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume II, p555 ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3
2. Nohlen, p580
3. Nohlen, p556
4. Levin, Dov H. (2016-09-19). "Partisan electoral interventions by the great powers: Introducing the PEIG Dataset". Conflict Management and Peace Science. 36 (1): 88–106. doi:10.1177/0738894216661190. ISSN 0738-8942.