Elections
With the 1989 introduction of elections for local and regional offices, La Causa for the first time had the opportunity to compete electorally with a chance of success. In December 1988 La Causa sent three deputies to the Venezuelan Chamber of Deputies. In 1989, one of La Causa's leaders, Andrés Velásquez, became the first Venezuelan elected governor who did not belong to either of the two major political parties (Accion Democratica and COPEI), winning the Bolívar governorship on the Causa R ticket.
In the 1993 presidential elections, the party nominated Andrés Velásquez, and came close to winning. Many party activists, including Velasquez, believed he had been denied the presidency through fraud. In the 1992 local elections, Aristóbulo Istúriz was elected mayor of Caracas for La Causa, where he initiated processes of citizen participation which, although cancelled after his term ended in 1995, would later influence the Bolivarian Revolution.
Francisco Arias Cárdenas, one of the main co-conspirators in Hugo Chávez's 1992 coup attempt, later joined La Causa R and was elected Governor of Zulia State.
In 1997, the Party split between a radical faction led by Pablo Medina, Aristóbulo Istúriz and Alí Rodríguez Araque and a moderate faction led by Andrés Velásquez. The radical faction, which was favored by a majority of party members, left to found a new party - Patria Para Todos (PPT), or Homeland for All - and went on to support Hugo Chávez's candidacy for the presidency the following year.
Read more about this topic: Radical Cause, History
Famous quotes containing the word elections:
“Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
“In my public statements I have earnestly urged that there rested upon government many responsibilities which affect the moral and spiritual welfare of our people. The participation of women in elections has produced a keener realization of the importance of these questions and has contributed to higher national ideals. Moreover, it is through them that our national ideals are ingrained in our children.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)