Dissent on both sides ... PPT and AD are being awkward with their allies

Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Both sides of the political divide are having not unexpected problems with internal dissent from their respective awkward squads. For the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), inevitably it's Patria Para Todos (PPT). Accion Democratica (AD) is playing up within the opposition.

PPT Secretary-General Jose Albornoz insists nobody is going to kick his party out of the "revolution" behind President Hugo Chavez. PSUV party Vice President Alberto Muller Rojas has accused PPT of "disloyalty" for backing Guarico state Governor Eduardo Manuitt's daughter, Lenny, as the candidate to succeed him. Albornoz was having none of that as he formally presented Lenny Manuitt as she made the pointed remark that the revolution wasn't "exclusive." He backed her all the way on that. "A father can disinherit, but one goes on belonging to the family," he said. "We're neither sectarians nor eunuchs."

PPT's decision was not an act of political retaliation, he added, drawing the odd conclusion that PPT was backing "unity." The PSUV's chosen candidate, broadcaster Mario Silva, seemed to be struggling as the limelight focused on Manuitt. He's moving his program to the state capital, Valencia, for the campaign.

Opinion polls put the opposition in front, and Manuitt is expected to take votes from the PSUV. The opposition doesn't have all that much else to cheer about as it moves into the difficult second stage of selecting unity candidates. AD insists its candidates, former governor William Davila in Anzoategui and Antonio Barreto Sira in Merida, are non-negotiable.

The intense competition to succeed Mayor Leopoldo Lopez of Chacao -- the perceived front runner among several contenders for the opposition nomination for Metropolitan Mayor -- continues apace. Several small political groupings lent their weight to Ramon Muchacho of Primero Justicia, to which Lopez belonged before crossing over to Un Nuevo Tiempo.