Hope for Change ( es, Esperanza por el Cambio) is a Venezuelan

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

registered by the

Consejo Nacional Electoral National Electoral Council may refer to: *National Electoral Council of Ecuador *National Electoral Council of Colombia *National Electoral Council of Venezuela The National Electoral Council ( es, Consejo Nacional Electoral) (CNE) is one of th ...

(CNE) with the shortened name ''El Cambio''. In the 2018 presidential election, Venezuelan pastor and party leader

Javier Bertucci Javier Alejandro Bertucci Carrero (born November 16, 1969) is an evangelical pastor, philanthropist, and Venezuelan businessman. In 2016, he was linked to the leakage of the Panama Papers. He runs the Maranatha Christian Church, a religious con ...

received enough votes to turn Hope for Change into an official political party. Aside from Bertucci, other leaders of the party include Alfonso Campos, the party's Secretary-General, Jeickson Portillo, its National Coordinator, and Luis Adames, its Undersecretary.

History

On 21 February 2018,

, an evangelical pastor who founded the Christian organization ''El Evangelio Cambia'', announced his candidacy in the

2018 Venezuelan presidential election Presidential elections were held in Venezuela on 20 May 2018, with incumbent Nicolás Maduro being declared re-elected for a second six-year term. The original electoral date was scheduled for December 2018 but was subsequently pulled ahead to ...

. Bertucci renounced his pastorship in compliance with Venezuelan electoral regulations, which state that presidential candidates must not be affiliated with any religious organizations. Early support for his campaign came from people who had previously known him due to his pastorship and establishment of the "Maranatha Venezuela" church. On 28 February, a group of his supporters registered the ''Hope for Change'' ( es, Esperanza por El Cambio) political party with the CNE to help draw further support for his candidacy. To gain further support among the poor, Hope for Change held soup kitchens, claiming that people wouldn't listen to speeches if they were starving. On 21 September 2018, Alfonso Campos, the General Secretary of Hope for Change, announced that the party was running

municipal election In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

candidates in 335 municipalities, in addition to confirming a national tour by Javier Bertucci. On 6 October, Hope for Change announced that it had formed an alliance with COPEI, MAS, AP, CMC, and MOVEV. At a press conference in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

on 22 November, Bertucci announced that Hope for Change was running 4,430 candidates in the municipal elections. Bertucci received 1,015,895 votes in the presidential election, over 10% of the total votes, placing behind the incumbent

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...

and

Progressive Advance Progressive Advance ( es, Avanzada Progresista) is an anti-Chavista progressive political party in Venezuela, founded by former members of For Social Democracy (PODEMOS), Fatherland for All and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela The Un ...

candidate

Henri Falcón Henri Falcón Fuentes (born 19 June 1961) is a Venezuelan politician. He was mayor for two consecutive terms of Barquisimeto, Iribarren Municipality (2000–2008) and governor of Lara State (2008–2017). He was a candidate in the 2018 Venezuela ...

. The Hope for Change candidate for the municipal election in the state of Bolívar won their election.

References

External links

Official site
{{Venezuelan political parties 2018 establishments in Venezuela Centrist parties in South America Christian democratic parties in South America Political parties established in 2018 Political parties in Venezuela Protestantism in Venezuela Protestant political parties