Structural Articulation

Frequency of National Meetings

Intensiveness of Organization

Maintaining Records

Extensiveness of Organization

Pervasiveness of Organization

Frequency of Local Meetings

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8.01 structural articulation

10, AC5

The Nacional party is well organized on the national level as well as in the urban and the rural areas. The party does possess an executive council which meets periodically, party conventions which are normally held only in the months immediately preceding the national elections, and the party caucus which attempts to put pressure on the members of the senate and general assembly. Also the party has a governing board at party headquarters which holds title to all properties owned by the party. The functional responsibilities of the various organs (not all are mentioned here) are relatively specified. Although the conventions of the party adhere to the majority principle, the other organs selection procedures do involve a substantial amount of informal cooptation.

8.02 intensiveness of organization

5, AC7

The smallest political unit of the party is the political club which is situated in almost all neighborhoods of the cities and in most of the rural areas. These clubs act as both political and social organs. The election law designates them as the proper authorities for nominating poll watchers and precinct panel members for their precincts.

8.03 extensiveness of organization

6, AC7

Although there is greater concentration of the political clubs in the urban areas relative of course to population density, the coastal and rural areas of the country still possess these types of clubs. The Nacional party has a relative advantage in the number of clubs in the coastal and rural areas of the country over the Colorado Party, while the reverse is true for the urban areas.

8.04 frequency of local meetings

6, AC5

The Nacional party attempts to maintain loyalty by an elaborate system of neighborhood clubs and the more active club houses may daily be the meeting place of several organizations of party members who belong to the club.

8.05 frequency of national meetings

AC2

The party's executive council or committee is mentioned to have periodically met to discuss problems of policy implementation, convention platform, etc. The actual frequency is not known.

8.06 maintaining records

16, AC5

All major sub-lemas of the party have their own newspapers. Although it is not clearly stated that the party maintains an institutionalized archive, it can be inferred from the literature that the main party headquarters in Montevideo and the major sub-lemas of the party have considerable information available on important political issues as well as on government and party policies. Each individual club maintains lists of its members. However due to the secret and multi-ballot system operating in the country at elections any person may think himself to be a member of the party even though the party does not consider him to be a member.

8.07 pervasiveness of organization

AC1

No information is available on this variable to make even an educated guess.