Patria Para Todos (PPT), once an unquestioning ally of Chavez and which once said it was willing to disappear into the PSUV, moved to what looked like a more independent line on choosing pro-government candidates for November's regional elections.
The spark appears to have been a statement last Saturday by Chavez to the effect that in cases where parties couldn't agree on a single candidate they would be able to put forward their own candidates. This was seen as an oblique challenge to the PSUV's minor partners either to line up behind the big party's choices or suffer the consequences by going it alone at the elections.
Things didn't improve when Dario Vivas, a member of the top echelon at the PSUV, was asked if the party might cede some candidacies to allied parties. All it was willing to do, he answered, was talk.
Andrea Tavares, the PPT's contender for the nomination for mayor of Libertador municipality in west Caracas, said it wasn't possible to forge alliances in the wake of Chavez’ statement. PPT and several other minor parties have formed a partnership, the Patriotic Alliance, but its relationship with the PSUV remains hazy at best. Some see it as a vehicle for running alongside rather than within the PSUV, while still supporting the President, others as a degree of autonomy.
The Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) took issue with the choice of candidates for governor in some states, but its own support for the PSUV's Willian Lara in Guarico state came under fire from PPT Secretary- General Jose Albornoz. Lara's critics say he was parachuted in at the expense of other contenders with more local support.
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