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9.01 nationalization
of structure
- 4, AC5
- The party hierarchy in
terms of concentration of power is perhaps difficult to
measure for the following reasons. The most basic unit of
the party is the neighborhood political club which
selects candidates for local office, issues policy
statements on purely local issues, and during election
time they support different sub-lemas for national
office, etc. On the national level, the executive council
and the heads of the various large sub-lemas have
considerable control, whether informal or formal, as to
who may run in each of the major sub-lemas and his
ranking on the various lists on the ballots, as well as
what issues concerning the party platform will be voted
on at the party convention. However there is no effective
party wide institution for coordinating the aggregate
activities of the various sub-lemas and the local
clubs.
- 9.02 selecting the
national leader
- 0, AC5
- This variable is
difficult to code for the Nacional party due to the
presence of sub-lemas within the party. Since anyone
within the party can create his own sub-lema it may be
said that the leader of the largest sub-lema (in terms of
votes in the election) is the head of the party. However
in the case of this party the leader of the major
sub-lema--Luis Alberto de Herrera-- at times during the
first and second time period up until his death--was not
even on the ballot. And yet he was a leader of the party
for over 40 years. In the second time period there was
certainly more than one national leader--in one sub-lema
there were three nationally known leaders. It is thus
decided that there was no identifiable leader during our
time period.
- 9.03 selecting
parliamentary candidates
- 3, AC5
- The leaders of the major
sub-lemas control who is to be placed within their own
sub-lema and where on the ballot they will be placed.
This process can be altered to some extent at the
National Party convention a couple of months before the
election. If we stop here in the process the code would
be "8". However since there is more than one sub-lema in
each party it can also be argued that at election time
there is also a direct primary in which the individual
party member votes for his own sub-lema. In this case a
code of "3" would be used. Any one may create their own
sub-lema within the party, i.e., run for office. Whether
he is the front runner and major candidate within the
party depends upon the relative position of the votes for
him vis-à-vis the other members of the other
sub-lemas. Whether he is in fact elected depends of
course on how well the party does vis-à-vis all
other parties. Thus the variable can be coded in two
different ways, depending upon one's own
perspective.
- 9.04 allocating
funds
- 0, AC5
- Funds are received at
the local level in the form of dues. At the national
level the party council controls the monies from the
various party enterprises such as newspapers, radio-tv
stations and from the national government at election
time for defraying the cost of printing the ballots. How
the leaders of the party actually distribute the
nationally gathered money is not clearly indicated in the
literature. However money is collected and disbursed at
all levels.
- 9.05 formulating
policy
- 2, AC5
- The national political
issues are generally determined by the major leaders of
the sub-lemas and voted on at the national party
convention. However the local clubs are able to act
independently on local issues.
- 9.06 controlling
communications
- 4, AC5
- The major newspapers are
generally controlled by the leaders of the sub-lemas.
However the local clubs are also able to issue press
releases, have neighborhood newspapers, demonstrations
and are generally free from direct control by party
leaders. Both groups influence the content of
communication, but of course at different
levels.
- 9.07 administering
discipline
- 0, AC5
- In the National Assembly
and in the senate the literature mentions that on a few
occasions the party caucus's leaders had to use severe
voting control. Since the leaders ape able to control
whether a member is aligned to be listed on the ballot of
a sub-lema that he is presently in, the leaders do have
considerable control when necessary over the members.
Generally, however, the members are allowed to vote any
way they want with little control coming from the
party.
- 9.08 leadership
concentration
- 2, AC5
- Although the heads of
the various sub-lemas do at times make pronouncements on
behalf of the party, there is no general way in which
party policy is issued. It could be argued that the party
platform voted on by the delegates to the national
convention is the only real authoritative voice on policy
decisions and in this case a code of 0 could be
used.
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