Democracy in Venezuela refers to the system of governance that has prevailed in Venezuela since direct election at the presidential level and later in the 1990s at the regional level. Democracy as a system of government in the country has had a history interrupted by coups d'état, some in the name of democracy itself. From 1958 onward, Venezuela was considered to be a relatively stable democracy within a continent that was facing a wave of military dictatorship, consuming almost all Latin American countries in the 1970s. By 1977, Venezuela was the only one of three democracies in Latin America, along with Colombia and Costa Rica. With the election of Hugo Chávez in the 1998 presidential election, the country started experiencing democratic backsliding. In 2008, Venezuela was ranked the least democratic nation in South America in The Economist Democracy Index, and by 2022 it ranked 147th out of 167 countries, with a rating of an authoritarian regime.