The election of Hugo Ch vez as president of Venezuela marked the capstone of a remarkable turnaround in Ch vez s political career. In the span of seven years, Ch vez went from being the leader of a failed military coup to the democratically-elected president of South s America oldest democracy. Ch vez s victory raises the question of how he was able to mobilize mass support in the years between the 1992 coup attempt and the 1998 election. Two hypotheses are tested. The converted militant hypothesis holds that Ch vez constructed his initial mass coalition by persuading voters that he now represented a peaceful democratic reform, not violent anti-democratic action.
Findings are consistent with the democratic ambivalence hypothesis.
That is, Hugo Ch vez s early mass coalition appears to have been founded on a base of democratic ambivalence.