National Democratic Front (Venezuela)

The National Democratic Front (, FND) was a right-wing, conservative political party in Venezuela. It was founded on 24 February 1964 by the writer and statesman Arturo Uslar Pietri from the political groups that had supported his presidential candidacy the previous year. Uslar Pietri served as president of the party's National Board. The party was dissolved in 1973.

History

Foundation and 1963 election

The party originated as the Independent Pro National Front Committee (, CIPFN), which adopted a bell as its distinguishing symbol to promote Uslar Pietri's candidacy in the 1963 Venezuelan general election. Uslar Pietri obtained 459,240 votes (16.01%), finishing behind the winner, Democratic Action (AD) candidate Raúl Leoni.

In the same election, the CIPFN was the most-voted party in Caracas and its surroundings, securing control of the Caracas Municipal Council and of the Sucre District in the east of the city. It also obtained 5 of 47 seats in the Senate and 22 of 178 seats in the Chamber of Deputies for the 1964–1969 legislative term.

Party period (1964–1973)

The committee was later restructured into a formal party under the name National Democratic Front (FND). Under these colours, Uslar Pietri was elected senator and held the seat until 1974.

In May 1964, President-elect Raúl Leoni proposed the formation of a "Broad Base" () coalition government, which the FND joined. The party remained part of this coalition until March 1966, when it withdrew over disagreements about the direction of government policy.

For the 1968 presidential election, the FND joined the Frente de la Victoria (Victory Front) coalition, formed together with the Democratic Republican Union (URD), the Popular Democratic Force (FDP) and the Independent National Electoral Movement (MENI), which supported the independent candidate Miguel Ángel Burelli Rivas. The party obtained 1 of 52 Senate seats and 4 of 214 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Uslar Pietri, who had served as president of the National Board since the party's foundation, resigned the post in 1968, triggering an internal crisis. The FND was finally dissolved in 1973 after poor results in the general election that year and the loss of parliamentary representation.

Ideology

The FND was defined as a conservative and nationalist organisation. Its platform emphasised national independence, institutional stability and a developmentalist economic agenda associated with the figure of Uslar Pietri, a former minister and prominent intellectual. The party occupied a position on the right of the Venezuelan political spectrum of the Punto Fijo era.

Notable members

• Arturo Uslar Pietri – founder, president of the National Board (1964–1968), senator (1964–1974)

See also

• List of political parties in Venezuela