The Democratic Republican Union (, URD) is a

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n political party founded in 1945.

History

When the party appeared on course to win the 1952 election for a constituent assembly, then-dictator

Marcos Pérez Jiménez Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military officer and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 1950 to 1952 and as president from 1952 t ...

suspended the election.Historia viva, 2002-2003
Jorge Olavarría. 2003. (page 134). The party joined in the 1958

Puntofijo Pact The Puntofijo Pact was a formal arrangement arrived at between representatives of Venezuela's three main political parties in 1958, Acción Democrática (AD), COPEI (Social Christian Party), and Unión Republicana Democrática (URD), for the ...

, and its candidate in that year's

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

, Wolfgang Larrazábal, was the runner-up. The party resigned from the Puntofijo Pact in 1962 in protest of the decision to exclude

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

from the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

, which ended its time as a dominant political party. Its candidate

Jóvito Villalba Jóvito Villalba Gutiérrez (March 23, 1908 – July 8, 1989), was a Venezuelan lawyer and politician, member of the Generation of 1928, founder of the party Unión Republicana Democrática, URD (''Democratic Republican Union'') and signer o ...

won 19% of the vote in the 1963 election, but only 3% in the 1973 election.

Presidential candidates supported

''Elections where the URD backed the winning candidate shown in bold''. * 1952 election:

* 1958 election: Wolfgang Larrazábal (34.88% of vote) * 1963 election:

(18.89%) * 1968 election: Miguel Ángel Burelli Rivas (22.22%) * 1973 election:

(3.07%) * 1978 election:

Luis Herrera Campins Luis Antonio Herrera Campins (4 May 1925 – 9 November 2007) was the president of Venezuela from 1979 to 1984. He was elected to one five-year term in 1978. He was a member of COPEI, a Christian Democratic party. Early life and career Lui ...

( COPEI candidate) * 1983 election:

Jaime Lusinchi Jaime Ramón Lusinchi (27 May 1924 – 21 May 2014) was the president of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. His term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the external debt, populist policies, currency depreciation, inflation and corrupt ...

(

Acción Democrática Democratic Action (, AD) is a Venezuelan social democratic and centre-left political party established in 1941. The party played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy, leading the government during Venezuela's first democ ...

candidate) * 1988 election: Ismenia Villalba (0.84%) * 1993 election:

Rafael Caldera Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez ( ; 24 January 1916 – 24 December 2009) was a Venezuelan politician and academician who was the 46th and 51st president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999, thus becoming the longest se ...

(independent, backed by a coalition of anti- COPEI/

parties) * 1998 election: Luis Alfaro Ucero (0.60%) * 2000 election: * 2006 election:

Manuel Rosales Manuel Antonio Rosales Guerrero (born 12 December 1952, in Santa Bárbara del Zulia) is a Venezuelan educator and politician, current governor of Zulia. He was the most prominent Venezuelan opposition candidate in the 2006 Venezuelan presiden ...

(

A New Era Un Nuevo Tiempo (Spanish for 'A New Era', UNT) is a centre-left politics, centre-left political party in Venezuela. It received 11% of the vote in the 2008 Venezuelan regional elections, 2008 regional elections. The party arose in Zulia State, ...

candidate)

References

1945 establishments in Venezuela Liberal parties in Venezuela Political parties established in 1945 Political parties in Venezuela {{Venezuela-party-stub