Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Vice President Alberto Muller Rojas took a soft tone as a week of bruising exchanges with minor partners in the Patriotic Alliance moved to a close.
Speaking on state television channel VTV on Friday, Muller Rojas said, "There have never been differences neither on policy nor on ideology that mark distance between us."
Earlier in the week, Muller Rojas dismissed the Alliance as a "failure" even as President Hugo Chavez tried to smooth ruffled feathers. But Muller Rojas may have taken his cue from an earlier statement by Chavez in which he'd told the minnows to accept PSUV choices of candidates for the regional elections or get lost.
There was no such tough talk from Muller Rojas on the eve of the weekend. "We've maintained and continue maintaining conversations with our allies of always since 1998," he declared. However, he conceded there were "tensions within the movement" during "this electoral process, as has occurred in the previous ones."
Minor parties such as Patria Para Todos (PPT) and the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV) say the PSUV is taking too large a share of candidate nominations, and at times without even consulting them. The response to this from Muller Rojas has at times been tantamount to a curt so what.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the opposition continued going round in circles in its selection process, even though Accion Democratica (AD) Secretary-General Henry Ramos Allup claimed full agreement would be reached before the day was out.
Claudio Fermin, one of several contenders who want to run for mayor in Libertador municipality in west Caracas, suggested the opposition should hold a primary election. But by then, voter rights pressure group Sumate said there was no longer sufficient time for primaries.
No comments:
Post a Comment