Ignacio Ávalos Gutiérrez was a Venezuelan sociologist, academic and electoral observer who spent his career on two causes: building a modern science and technology policy for Venezuela, and defending the integrity of its elections. A former alternate rector of the National Electoral Council (CNE) and a founder and director of the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory (OEV), he died in Venezuela on Tuesday 10 November 2026. El Nacional gave his age as 84.
Ávalos graduated in sociology from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), where he later taught. He became a specialist in public policy for science, technology and innovation, and in institutional management. He held senior posts at the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICIT), the state science funding body, which government sources say he presided over. He sat on the advisory council of RICYT, the Ibero-American network of science and technology indicators, and on the coordinating group of the Technoscience and Sport project.
In 2000 the National Legislative Commission appointed him an alternate member of the CNE. On 25 October that year he resigned together with Leonardo Pizani in protest at the call for a national referendum on trade union leadership, set for 3 December. The two argued that putting an internal matter of the unions to a universal vote was an illegal and unconstitutional use of the referendum and distorted its purpose.
He went on to help found the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory, a civil association that monitors and analyses the country's elections, and served on its board and as its director. For years he also wrote opinion columns for the newspaper El Nacional, which praised his analytical skill and his commitment to strengthening democracy.
His death was confirmed on 10 November 2026. Tributes came from across the political spectrum. Delcy Rodríguez, exercising executive power, said he had dedicated his life to knowledge, research and service to the country and that his work left an important mark on Venezuela's scientific and technological development and on the training of new generations. The political scientists Juan Manuel Trak and Jesús Castellanos described him as a defender of Venezuelans' electoral rights whose loss was mourned by the whole electoral community. The cause of death was not made public.
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