The Movement for Socialism ( es, Movimiento al Socialismo, or ) is a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management within ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

History

MAS was founded in 1971, with a view to emphasising a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

message. Initially led by Teodoro Petkoff, its first congress was held on January 14, 1971. In 1988 another

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

party, the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, merged with MAS. In the 1970s to the 1990s, members of MAS hoped that the party would become the third largest political force, challenging the dominant

Social Christian The Christian Union ( nl, ChristenUnie, CU) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more social ...

and Democratic Action parties. However, the party often won less than 5% of the vote. At the 1993 election it supported the

National Convergence The National Convergence ( es, Convergencia Nacional) is a political party in Venezuela. It was founded in 1993 by former President of Venezuela Rafael Caldera, who was a member of Copei and won a second term in the 1993 elections. From 199 ...

coalition which successfully backed

Rafael Caldera Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( (); 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009), twice elected the president of Venezuela, served for two five-year terms (1969–1974 and 1994–1999), becoming the longest serving democratically elected leade ...

, contributing 10.59% of the vote, a third of Caldera's total. At the

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

the same year it achieved a high-water mark of 5 Senators and 24

Deputies A legislator (also known as a deputy or lawmaker) is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people of the state. Legislatures may be supra-national (for e ...

. MAS initially supported the government of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

in 1998. Petkoff disagreed with this decision and left the party. Disagreements between MAS and Chávez subsequently emerged, and MAS joined the opposition. In the legislative elections of 30 July 2000, the party won 21 out of 165 seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...

. Its current leaders include Leopoldo Puchi, Felipe Mújica and Carlos Tablante. In the period since 1989, when state governors have been directly elected, the party has won state governorships in

Delta Amacuro Delta Amacuro State ( es, Estado Delta Amacuro, ) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela, and is the location of the Orinoco Delta. The Paria Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean are found to the north, Bolívar State is found to the south, the Atlantic ...

Lara Lara may refer to: Places * Lara (state), a state in Venezuela *Electoral district of Lara, an electoral district in Victoria, Australia * Lara, Antalya, an urban district in Turkey * Lara, Victoria, a township in Australia * Lara de los In ...

, Portuguesa,

Sucre Sucre () is the capital of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the 6th most populated city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high altitude gives the ...

( Ramón Martínez) and

Zulia Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. I ...

. Some of his past members included: Pompeyo Márquez, Rafael Guerra Ramos and Carlos Tablante.

Presidential candidates supported

''Elections where MAS backed the winning candidate shown in bold'' * 1973 election:

José Vicente Rangel José Vicente Rangel Vale (10 July 1929 – 18 December 2020) was a Venezuelan politician and journalist. He ran for president three times in the 1970s and 1980s and later supported Hugo Chávez. He served under Chávez as Minister of Foreign ...

(4.26%) * 1978 election:

(5.18%) * 1983 election: Teodoro Petkoff (4.17%) * 1988 election: Teodoro Petkoff (2.71%) * 1993 election:

(independent, backed by the coalition Convergencia, MAS contributing 10.59% of vote) * 1998 election:

(

Fifth Republic Movement The Fifth Republic Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento V uintaRepública'', MVR) was a socialist political party in Venezuela. It was founded in July 1997, following a national congress of the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200, to support the ca ...

candidate, MAS contributing 9.00%) * 2000 election:

(

candidate, MAS contributing 8.70%) * 2006 election:

Manuel Rosales Manuel Antonio Rosales Guerrero (born December 12, 1952, in Santa Bárbara del Zulia) is a Venezuelan educator and politician, current governor of Zulia, Venezuela's most populated state. He was the most prominent opposition candidate in the ...

(

A New Era A New Era ( es, Un Nuevo Tiempo, UNT) is a centre-left political party in Venezuela. It received 11% of the vote in the 2008 regional elections. The party arose in Zulia State, Venezuela's most populous, and remains far stronger in its home r ...

candidate, MAS contributing 0.61%) *

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

Henrique Capriles Henrique Capriles Radonski (; born 11 July 1972) is a Venezuelan politician and lawyer, who served as the 36th Governor of Miranda from 2008 to 2017. Born in Caracas, he received a degree in law from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, ...

Democratic Unity Roundtable The Democratic Unity Roundtable ( es, Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, MUD) was a catch-all electoral coalition of Venezuelan political parties formed in January 2008 to unify the opposition to President Hugo Chávez's United Socialist Party of ...

candidate) * 2013 election:

candidate) * 2018 election:

Henri Falcón Henri Falcón Fuentes (born 19 June 1961) is a Venezuelan politician. He was mayor for two consecutive terms of Barquisimeto, Iribarren Municipality (2000–2008) and governor of Lara State (2008–2017). He was a candidate in the 2018 Venezuel ...

Progressive Advance Progressive Advance ( es, Avanzada Progresista) is an anti- Chavista progressive political party in Venezuela, founded by former members of For Social Democracy (PODEMOS), Fatherland for All and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela The ...

candidate) MAS is a member of

Socialist International The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisation ...

, and a member of

COPPPAL The Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (french: Conférence permanente des partis politiques d'Amérique latine et des Caraïbes; es, Conferencia Permanente de Partidos Políticos de América Latina y el ...

Partidos Miembros
, accessed 10 June 2012

References

{{Authority control 1971 establishments in Venezuela Democratic socialist parties in South America Full member parties of the Socialist International Political parties established in 1971 Political parties in Venezuela Social democratic parties in Venezuela

History

Presidential candidates supported

See also

References