The party was founded after the
general elections of 2000 with the intention of bringing together the large numbers of people who had voted for
Francisco Arias Cárdenas. At the beginning of its existence the party was clearly opposed to President Hugo Chávez, to the point that it managed to concentrate former
anti-chavista members of
Movement for Socialism to their party. Some of the party members became involved in the
2002 Venezuelan coup attempt against
Hugo Chávez, fracturing the newly founded party. In the
regional elections of 2004 the fracture within the party became increasingly evident, when Francisco Arias Cárdenas decided to start his candidacy for the governorship of
Zulia and not support the alliance with
Manuel Rosales, as well as the support for the official candidate Florencio Porras of the
Fifth Republic Movement. He also denied the victory of Hugo Chávez in the
2004 presidential recall referendum declaring that a
fraud had taken place. However, after multiple compromises between Arias and Chávez, the Union became part of the government coalition, supporting the
Fifth Republic Movement in all regional circuits. The section of the party opposed to the alliance with Chávez decided to rejoin the
Movement for Socialism. In the
presidential elections of December 2006, Union obtained 28,928 votes (0.25%) for the Hugo Chávez. At the end of December 2006, Union announced their dissolution and merger with the
United Socialist Party of Venezuela. == References ==