The Movement for Socialism ( or ) is a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and 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-mana ...

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

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 ...

History

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

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

message. Initially led by

Teodoro Petkoff Teodoro Petkoff Malec (; 3 January 1932 – 31 October 2018) was a Venezuelan politician, economist and journalist. One of Venezuela's most prominent politicians on the political left, left, Petkoff began as a communist but founded the Democrati ...

, its first congress was held on January 14, 1971. In 1988 another

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

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 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 () 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 1995 to 2004 Eduardo Lapi hel ...

coalition which successfully backed

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 ...

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

parliamentary elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

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

Deputies A legislator, 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, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nati ...

. MAS initially supported the government of

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...

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 repr ...

. 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 (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, 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 (Venezuela), Bolívar State is found to th ...

Lara Lara may refer to: People * Lara (name), can be a given name or a surname in several languages * Lara (mythology), a naiad nymph, daughter of the river Almo in Ovid's ''Fasti'' Places *Lara (state), a state in Venezuela * Electoral district ...

, Portuguesa,

Sucre Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...

( Ramón Martínez) and

Zulia Zulia State (, ; 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. It is also one of t ...

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

Carlos Tablante Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

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. He ran for president three times in the 1970s and 1980s and later supported Hugo Chávez. He served under Chávez as List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs ...

(4.26%) * 1978 election:

(5.18%) * 1983 election:

(4.17%) * 1988 election:

(2.71%) * 1993 election:

(independent, backed by the coalition

Convergencia Citizens' Movement (, MC) is a centre-left political party in Mexico. It was founded in 1999 under the name Convergence for Democracy, which was then shortened to Convergence in 2002 and changed to Citizens' Movement in 2011. Established on 1 A ...

, MAS contributing 10.59% of vote) * 1998 election:

(

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

candidate, MAS contributing 9.00%) *

2000 election The following elections occurred in the year 2000. Africa * 2000 Ethiopian general election * 2000 Ghanaian presidential election * 1999–2000 Guinea-Bissau general election * 2000–01 Ivorian parliamentary election * 2000 Ivorian presidentia ...

(

candidate, MAS contributing 8.70%) * 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, MAS contributing 0.61%) * 2012 election:

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

Democratic Unity Roundtable The Democratic Unity Roundtable (, 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 Venezuela in the 2010 Venezue ...

candidate) * 2013 election:

candidate) * 2018 election:

Henri Falcón Henri Falcón Fuentes (born 19 June 1961) is a Venezuelan politician, lawyer, and retired Bolivarian Army non-commissioned officer. He served as mayor for two consecutive terms of Barquisimeto, Iribarren Municipality from 2000 to 2008 and as ...

Progressive Advance Progressive Advance () 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 United Socialist Party o ...

candidate) * 2024 election:

Edmundo González Urrutia Edmundo is variation of the English name Edmund, meaning “protector of prosperity or riches.” It is common in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. Some individuals include: * Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto (born 1971), former Brazilian footb ...

(

Unitary Platform The Democratic Unitary Platform (; PUD), or just the Unitary Platform (; PU), is a Venezuelan Crisis in Venezuela, opposition political alliance made up of civil society, trade unions, retired military personnel, political parties, and deputies of ...

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, consisting mostly of Social democracy, social democratic political parties and Labour mov ...

, and a member of

COPPPAL The Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (; , COPPPAL) is an international organization of political parties in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was created at the behest of the Institutional Revolutiona ...

Partidos Miembros
, accessed 10 June 2012

References

{{Authority control 1971 establishments in Venezuela Democratic socialist parties in South America Political parties established in 1971 Political parties in Venezuela Social democratic parties in Venezuela

History

Presidential candidates supported

See also

References