The opposition's candidates election tendency under attack from Accion Democratica (AD)

Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): The opposition's tendency to leave the choice of election candidates to party cabals supposedly helped by opinion polls came under attack from Accion Democratica (AD), which claims to be still the biggest party among President Hugo Chavez' foes.

AD Secretary General Henry Ramos Allup warned that using surveys was damaging the opposition by seeding candidatitis because polls produced different results. "Some say one thing and others the contrary," he remarked. Ramos Allup noted that the social democrats at Podemos -- the latest recruit to the opposition after falling out with Chávez over his failed bid to change the Constitution last year -- was to hold internal party elections in seven states.

The warning from Ramos Allup ran right up against theory in the top ranks of other opposition parties, not least Zulia State Governor Manuel Rosales' Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) and Primero Justicia, who usually tend to disagree on most things.

Primero Justicia chief Julio Borges claims surveys reflect "better democracy" in picking candidates. His counterpart at UNT, Omar Barboza, is also a fan of polls, although he said it might be necessary to call in other companies given the "complexity" of the competition for opposition candidates. For all this, AD itself didn't stage primaries. The national directive directly appointed the party's contenders for candidates. Whether it resorted to opinion polls isn't known.