For Social Democracy

For Social Democracy Por la Democracia Social
Leader	Didalco Bolívar
Founded	2002
Headquarters	Caracas
Ideology	Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Great Patriotic Pole
International affiliation	COPPPAL
Seats in the Latin American Parliament	0 / 12
Seats in the National Assembly	0 / 165
Governors of States of Venezuela	0 / 23
Mayors	0 / 337
Website
https://twitter.com/PartidoPODEMOS
Politics of Venezuela Political parties Elections

PODEMOS ("We can"; an abbreviation of Por la Democracia Social, "For Social Democracy") is a political party in Venezuela. In the 2005 legislative elections the party won 15 out of 165 seats in the National Assembly.

The party is led by Ismael García and Didalco Bolívar. It once supported president Hugo Chávez, but refused to join the new United Socialist Party (PSUV) created by the president in 2007, and opposed Chávez's proposals in the 2007 constitutional referendum. Since then, it broke with Chávez and became the only opposition voice in the Parliament. Hugo Chávez accused García of "raising the flags of the right."^[1]

PODEMOS is a member of COPPPAL,^[2] and used to be a consultative member of Socialist International.^[3]

In 2012 the party split and the anti-Chávez faction supporting Ismael García joined the anti-Chávez faction of Fatherland for All, creating Progressive Advance, a centre-left party in opposition to the government. The leadership of PODEMOS was then taken by the pro-Chávez Didalco Bolívar. Under Bolívar's leadership, the party left the Democratic Unity Roundtable and joined the PSUV-led Great Patriotic Pole.

Notes

1. Presidente Chávez: dirigentes vacilantes deben explicar al pueblo razones para no adherirse al PSUV
2. (Spanish) COPPPAL, Partidos Miembros, accessed 10 June 2012
3. Socialist International MEMBER PARTIES of the SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL, accessed 10 June 2012