President Roberto Enriquez Founder Rafael Caldera | General secretary Jesús Alberto Barrios Founded January 13, 1946 | |
Headquarters Avenida La Gloria, El Bosque, Caracas Youth wing Juventud Demócrata Cristiana | ||
COPEI, also called Social Christian Party (Spanish: Partido Socialcristiano) or Green Party (Spanish: Partido Verde), is a Christian democratic party in Venezuela. The acronym stands for Comité de Organización Política Electoral Independiente ("Independent Political Electoral Organization Committee"), but this provisional full name has fallen out of use.
It was founded on January 13, 1946, by Rafael Caldera, who later served as president under the party's banner. Copei, along with Democratic Action, was the dominant Venezuelan party from 1958 to 1998. The only other Copei member to become president of Venezuela was Luis Herrera Campins, between 1979 and 1983. The party's leaders were Lorenzo Fernández, Eduardo Fernández and Oswaldo Álvarez Paz.
In the 2000 legislative elections the party won 5 of 165 seats in the National Assembly; 4 additional seats were won by an alliance with Democratic Action. In the 2005 legislative elections Copei staged an electoral boycott and so did not win any seats in the National Assembly. In the 2010 parliamentary election, Copei was part of the broad oppositional Coalition for Democratic Unity and won 8 of the 165 seats.