Mesa de la Unidad Democrática

^[1]The Mesa de la Unidad Democrática (Coalition for Democratic Unity, MUD) is an electoral coalition of Venezuelan political parties formed in January 2008 to unify the opposition to President Hugo Chávez' United Socialist Party of Venezuela in the Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2010.^[2] A previous opposition umbrella group, the Coordinadora Democrática, had collapsed after the failure of the Venezuelan recall referendum, 2004. In the September 2010 election for the national assembly (Congress)the MUD won around 52% of the vote nationally, however it only gained 65 seats (of 165) due to changes in population-vote distribution introduced by the incumbent national assembly that had a government party supermajority. In the same elections, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela won 48% of the vote and 98 seats, while the Patria Para Todos (PPT) party got only 2 seats in the National Assembly elections in September 2010.^[3]

Overview

The MUD was formally launched on 23 January 2008, and restructured on 8 June 2009.^[2][4] In June 2009 MUD included 11 political parties, and was led by Luis Ignacio Planas, President of COPEI.^[2] By April 2010 the MUD included around 50 political parties, of which 16 were national in scope (the rest regional), and had support from some other social organisations and opinion groups.^[1] The main parties included in MUD are the traditional Democratic Action and COPEI (which held power from 1958 to 1998); the left groups Movement for Socialism, Radical Cause and Red Flag Party; and more recently established parties Project Venezuela, A New Era, Justice First and For Social Democracy ("PODEMOS").^[1]

The Mesa is supported by the Movimiento 2D opposition movement led by El Nacional editor and proprietor Miguel Henrique Otero.

2010 legislative elections

In April 2010 the MUD held primaries in 15 electoral districts, with 361,000 voters participating, and selecting 22 candidates (the remaining 143 candidates were chosen "by consensus"^[1]).^[1] The candidates chosen included María Corina Machado (of Súmate) and Iván Simonovis, one of nine police officials serving time for participating in the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt.^[1] Several others of the nine, regarded by the MUD as political prisoners, were also nominated, in districts with a real chance of opposition success;^[1] winning would require their release due to parliamentary immunity.^[1] Manuel Rosales, the opposition's candidate in the Venezuelan presidential election, 2006 and now in exile in Peru due to corruption charges (which Rosales denies), was also nominated.^[1]

In the September 2010 election the MUD won around 47% of the vote nationally, and gained 67 seats (of 165). The leading parties in the coalition were Justice First and A New Era (with 10 seats each), and Democratic Action and COPEI on 8 and 5 respectively. Notable new deputies included María Corina Machado and Enrique Mendoza (both representing Justice First in districts in Miranda State).

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} IPS News, 27 April 2010, Opposition Plans Return to Venezuelan Congress
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Partidos de oposición conforman Mesa de la Unidad Democrática". Noticiasve.com. http://www.noticiasve.com/partidos-de-oposicion-conforman-mesa-de-la-unidad-democratica/. Retrieved 2010-08-21. 
3. ^ [1]"In Venezuela, the electoral system is set up in a way that favors the majority party as well as rural votes more than urban votes. Chavez counts on support from the over-represented rural areas. The system means that even if the opposition won at least half of the votes, it would actually seat considerably fewer than half of the parliament.".
4. ^ (Spanish) Candidatos unitarios ya tienen acuerdo de país para campaña El Universal. 24 de enero de 2008.

External links

• Unidad Venezuela