According to the democracy watchdog Freedom House, in the 2012 election, “the opposition candidate, Henrique Capriles, was able to hold rallies and engage in traditional forms of campaigning.” But “Chávez benefited from massive use of state resources that enabled him to dominate media time by a margin of 25-to-1, distribute household goods to constituents, and convince many voters that the state could punish them for casting a ballot for the opposition.”
并非如此。相反，民主平等度在该地区的不少国家迅速恶化。委内瑞拉已故总统查韦斯便是这一趋势的最佳写照。据民主观察组织自由之家（Freedom House）透露，在2010年选举中，“反对派候选人卡普里莱斯（Henrique Capriles）能够构筑选举联盟，并进行传统竞选活动。”但“查韦斯从大规模使用国家资源中获益良多，这让他能够以25比1的优势主宰媒体时段，向选民分发家庭用品，并威胁众多选民投票给反对者将受到国家的惩罚。”