COPEI

The COPEI ( Comite de Organización Política derived from Electoral Independiente, independent political choice Organizing Committee ') was, until the 1990s, the second largest party in Venezuela. Co-founder and " father figure " of the Christian Democratic Party was Rafael Caldera, who was president from 1969 to 1974. The COPEI presented the President of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and 1979 until 1984.

The party was founded to compete in 1946 at the first election after the ( temporary ) introduction of democracy in Venezuela. Your bulky name Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente was initially only a temporary, but the derived Acronym COPEI naturalized on and is used to this day, occasionally with additional designations such as Partido Social Cristiano (, Christian Social Party ') or Partido Popular (, people's Party '). A colloquial name for the party is partido verde ( " green party" ) derived from their campaign color.

History

Its historical roots, the party won in the political Catholicism from the 1930s in Venezuela in importance. Precursor were founded in 1936 Catholic student organization Unión Nacional Estudiantil ( UNE; , National Students Union ') and the party Acción Nacional, founded in 1938 ( AN;, National Action '). From the beginning, Rafael Caldera played a significant role. He was a member of the international Catholic student organization Pax Romana and the lay movement Catholic Action. Caldera and his colleagues were dominated by the confrontation with leftist students, but wanted to create a party within the meaning of the Christian social teaching, which was not influenced by reactionary conservatives and also not under the direct influence of the church.

During the military dictatorship from 1948 to 1958, the COPEI has been hampered in its operation. After the end of which it concluded with the two other pro-democracy parties, the moderate nationalist Acción Democrática (AD ) and the progressive- liberal Unión Democrática Republicana ( URD ), the agreement of Punto Fijo. In it they agreed to form a coalition government and agreed to exclude certain controversial areas of policy debate, in order to create a stable democratic system. This laid the foundation for the pact democracy was laid in the AD and COPEI alternated after the decline of the URD in the following three decades without serious political competition in power. Caldera won the elections in 1968 and became president.

During his reign, the COPEI away further from its specifically Catholic roots and developed into a relatively non-ideological party of the political center. After the presidential Calderas ( 1969-74 ) and five years in opposition, put the COPEI 1979-1984 with Luís Herrera Campíns for the second time the president. The two-party system, with its lack of control and partially unclear responsibilities led to a bloated apparatus, rampant corruption and decreasing public confidence in politics. Rafael Caldera turned his party before the elections in 1993 and came back as a candidate of the Alliance Convergencia Nacional, with the support of smaller left opposition parties, and became president for the second time, now without the party book of COPEI. He gave his former party the practical crash into political insignificance award.

Its importance waned even faster than that of the other party tradition AD. Also in opposition to the governing coalition of the 1998 ruling President Hugo Chavez plays only a minor role. In the parliamentary elections of 2000 it reached only five of the 165 seats in the National Assembly, 2005, she did not participate in the parliamentary elections. In the 2010 parliamentary elections the party again got five seats. Since 2008 she is part of the opposition alliance Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (MUD ) against the governments of Chávez ' and his successor Nicolás Maduro. The common opposition presidential candidate in the elections in 2012 and 2013, Henrique Capriles, had won his career with COPEI, but belongs to since 2000, the more recent center-right party Primero Justicia.

COPEI in the National Assembly

The following COPEI politicians are 2010 deputies in the National Assembly:

  • Enrique Mendoza ( Miranda )
  • Gabino Paz ( Táchira )
  • Abelardo Díaz ( Táchira )
  • Homero Ruíz ( Táchira )
  • Mervin Mendez ( Zulia )
Pax Romana (organization) Punto Fijo Pact Justice First
198348
de