| Democratic Action Acción Democrática |
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|---|---|
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| Leader | Henry Ramos |
| Founded | September 13, 1941 |
| Headquarters | Caracas |
| Ideology | Neoliberalism, social democracy (alleged) |
| International affiliation | Socialist International |
| Website | |
| Official site | |
| Politics of Venezuela Political parties Elections |
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Democratic Action (Spanish: Acción Democrática, abbreviated as AD) is a Venezuelan political party which claims to be social democratic. It was established on September 13, 1941 by Rómulo Gallegos, Andrés Eloy Blanco, Luis Beltrán Prieto, Juan Oropeza, Luis Lander, Raúl Ramos, Medardo Medina, Enrique H. Marín, Rafael Padrón, Fernando Peñalver, Luis Augusto Dubuc, César Hernández, and Ricardo Montilla. Gallegos was a highly prestigious writer, the author of the best-selling Latin American novel, Doña Bárbara, among several others, while Andrés Eloy Blanco was a celebrated Venezuelan poet and a witty humoristic writer.
The party played an important role in the early years of Venezuelan democracy. Many of its founders and early members helped to bring down the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in the late 1950s. Four presidents came from Acción Democrática between the 1960s and 1990s. By the end of the 1990s, however, the party's credibility was almost nonexistent, mostly because of the corruption and poverty that Venezuelans experienced during the last three full-term administrations of the party's time in power, namely, those of Carlos Andrés Pérez (two periods) and Jaime Lusinchi.
At the legislative elections, of 30 July 2000, the party won 29 out of 165 seats in the National Assembly; four additional seats were won by an AD-Copei alliance.
Currently[update] the party is deeply fragmented but is trying to regain the trust of society and fight the government of Hugo Chávez Frías.
In the most recent legislative elections, 4 December 2005, Democratic Action staged an electoral boycott and consequently did not win any seats in the National Assembly.
The trade union confederation CTV is closely linked to AD.
Acción Democrática's current Secretary General is Henry Ramos.
Venezuelan Presidents from AD
| President | Dates in office | Form of entry | Occupation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Rómulo Betancourt | 1945-1948 | Coup d'état | Politician |
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Rómulo Gallegos | 1948-1948 | Direct elections | Writer / Novelist |
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Rómulo Betancourt | 1959-1964 | Direct elections | Politician |
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Raúl Leoni | 1964-1969 | Direct elections | Lawyer |
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Carlos Andrés Pérez | 1974-1979 | Direct elections | Politician |
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Jaime Lusinchi | 1984-1989 | Direct elections | Physician |
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Carlos Andrés Pérez | 1989-1993 | Direct elections | Politician |
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Ramón José Velásquez | 1993-1994 | Interim president | Historian |
External links
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