Justice First

Justice First
Primero Justicia
Leader Henrique Capriles Radonski
Deputy Leaders Richard Mardo,
Carlos Ocariz
Coordinator Julio Borges
Founded 2000 (2000)
Headquarters Edif. Pofili, Urb. Los Palos Grandes, Caracas
Ideology Big tent
Centrism
Liberalism
Political position Centre[1]
National affiliation Democratic Unity Roundtable
International affiliation None
Colours           Yellow, black
National Assembly
33 / 167
Seats in the Latin American Parliament
1 / 12
Seats in the Mercosur Parliament
0 / 23
Governors
0 / 23
Mayors
0 / 335
Website
www.primerojusticia.org.ve

The Justice First (Spanish: Primero Justicia) is a centrist[1] political party in Venezuela. Founded in 1992 as a civil association, it became a political party in 2000.

History

Justice First was created in 1992 as a civil association by a group of university students under the leadership of Alirio Abreu Burelli. The group was concerned about what they saw as a deterioration of judicial power in the country, and sought a reform of Venezuela's legal system. Abreu Burelli was magistrate of the federal Supreme Court of Justice and Vice President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS).

The association entered the political arena during the 1999 Constituent Assembly of Venezuela, in which they presented a draft for the country's new constitution. Justice First became a political party in 2000, initially as a regional party, and registered as a national party with the National Electoral Council of Venezuela on 1 March 2002.[2]

In the July 2000 legislative elections, five members of Justice First were elected as deputies to the National Assembly for a five-year term: Carlos Eduardo Ocariz Guerra, Gerardo Alberto Blyde Pérez, Julio Borges, Ramón José Medina Simancas and Liliana de los Ángeles Hernández Soto. Justice First participated in the last minute opposition boycott of the 2005 elections, so they had no representatives in the Assembly from 2005 to 2010. They contested the 2006 presidential elections with former congressman Julio Borges, but he dropped out of the race in support of Manuel Rosales, then governor of Zulia State, and former Mayor of Maracaibo.

Henrique Capriles Radonski was elected governor of Miranda in 2008. The party had six deputies elected at the 2010 parliamentary elections: Tomas Guanipa in Zulia, Juan Carlos Caldera and Julio Borges in Miranda, Dinorah Figuera in the capital district, Richard Mardo in Aragua, and Richard Arteaga in Anzoátegui.

Ideology

The Justice First party is a catch-all party for left-leaning and right-leaning individuals unified by a common desire to relax Venezuelan social laws and stringent authority which intrudes on the natural freedoms of Venezuela and democracy as a whole. The party includes everyone from social democrats to laissez-faire economists. Despite these differences, their hatred of the democratic socialist Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro unifies them and prevents serious infighting. Due to the very diverse makeup of this organization, it is difficult for foreign commentators to analyze its properties and policies. However, some of their listed policies include increasing local autonomy, abolishing the "corrupt" Constituent Assembly, and passing tax cuts and welfare/pension funding increases. Other than that, the organization remains extremely vague.

References

  1. 1 2 Ellner, Steve (2012). The Heyday of Radical Populism in Venezuela and Its Reappearance (2nd ed.). University of Alabama Press. p. 150.
  2. ↑ (in Spanish) Nunez Munoz, Ingrid and Pineda Moran, Nury (2003), "Nuevos Partidos, Nuevos Liderazgos: Primero Justicia", Cuestiones Politicas, 30, Jan-Jun 2003, pp45-74
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