Primero Justicia breaks loose to launch its own recall referendum campaign
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Sunday, May 04, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue
Primero Justicia (PJ) has come under heavy fire from the opposition camp for holding its own march on May 1 and now general secretary, Luis Mejias has announced that it is starting its own recall referendum in earnest.
Mejias points out that PJ will base its referendum campaign called "Recall 2003" on three points:
- Pressure on international community
- Support government-opposition negotiations
- Setting up "Yes" Committees
"Recall 2003" national coordinator, Carlos Ocariz says there are only 100 or so days to hand the National Electoral College (CNE) signatures backing up a request for a recall referendum .... "we are going to set up committees in 80,000 communities ... the only way to ensure the success of the recall referendum is through the communities."
Primero Justicia has set a target of votes for each committee, which will come out at 4 million votes nationwide.
Like Proyecto Venezuela, it seems that PJ is loosening contacts with Coordinadora Democratica (CD) to define its own image among opposition voters.
A recent poll has placed Accion Democratica (AD) as the favorite opposition political party. PJ is down on the list, even though leader Julio Borges is high on the individual lists of presidential candidates.