The new elections for leadership of the union in the base organisations and the union federation were dragged out from August 2001 until January 2002, thereby opening the floodgates to countless irregular procedures and attempted manipulation from all sides. What does seem certain however is that more than 920,000 employees in the base organisations and about 304,000 people in the union federation were involved. This is a clear indication that at the beginning of 2002 the CTV could be regarded as by far the strongest federation with the highest number of union members. On the other hand, the long election process ended with the disappearance of 49% of the completed election lists, so the result can be said to reflect the actual balance of power only to a limited extent. The count of the available lists gave the FUT’s leading candidate, Carlos Ortega, 57.4% of the votes and the FBT’s candidate, former mayor of Caracas and subsequent Minister of Education Aristóbolo Istúriz, 15.8%. The election of Carlos Ortega as President of the CTV with a majority may be fairly plausible, because as a labour leader for many years in the oil sector, he was a proven unionist, while his opponent entered the race as the personally preferred candidate of President Chávez without having any union background. In addition to this, the organised workforce, being part of the middle class, cannot really be regarded as belonging to the“natural pool” of Chávez voters. Chávez’s side did not recognise these results and was supported by the country’s highest court. The government responded to the failed takeover attempt with a policy of not recognising the CTV and its individual unions as legitimate representatives of employee interests and promoted as far as possible the establishment of parallel unions through the Labour Ministry, which were of course supported by the Ministry. In 2003/2004 alone, the number of individual unions recognised by the Labour Ministry increased from 2,974 to about 4,000. Under Ortega’s leadership the CTV was completely integrated into the ranks of the political opposition. In view of the increasing protests against the Chávez government, the CTV called a strike against the government’s “increasingly dictatorial policies”, thereby contributing to the mass demonstrations that on the 11th of April 2002 resulted in the attempted coup by short-term President Pedro Carmona. From December 2002 until February 2003 the CTV and the business umbrella organisation FEDECAMERAS(Federación de Cameras y Asociaciones de Comercio y Producción de Venezuela)(Venezuelan Federation of Commerce and Production Chambers and Associations), acting in an unusual alliance, organised a“civil strike” aimed at overthrowing the President. This civil strike was followed by the paralysis of oil production and export caused by the management of the state-run oil company PDVSA(Petroleos de Venezuela Sociedad Anónima). After the failure of this adventure, Ortega went into exile in Costa Rica in 2004, but was sentenced to 16 years in prison after illegally returning to Venezuela in December 2005. Ortega escaped from prison in August 2006 and now lives in Peru, whose government has granted him asylum for “humanitarian reasons“. The CTV sees him as one of those persecuted by the Venezuelan judiciary for political reasons and still regards Ortega as their legitimate President. Under the leadership of CTV general secretary Manuel Cova, who had been a candidate together with the exiled President on the FUT list, the federation continued its adopted policy as part of the Coordinadora Demorática, a loose political opposition alliance. At the beginning of 2004, this alliance forced a referendum over his dismissal on the President in accordance with the Bolivarian constitution, which resulted in a clear victory for Chávez on the 14 th of August 2004. Opposed by the state, supported only by weak and resigned opposition parties, losing its member organisations and probably also financially depleted, the CTV’s real influence shrank to a minimum. The organisation had drifted into insignificance. The other union federations of the“Fourth Republic” The three remaining union federations are less important in terms of the size of their memberships. In 2001/2002 only 9,300 members in 34 national and regional organisations took part in the union-internal elections of the Confederación de Sindicatos Autónomos de Venezuela(Venezuelan Confederation of Autonomous Unions) (CODESA). In the Confederación General de Trabajadores(Workers General Confederation) (CGT) 7,940 members in 49 national and regional organisations voted. Both organisations belong to the Christian World Confederation of Labour(WCL) and at a continental level to the Central Latinoamericana de Trabajadores(Latin American Central of Workers)(CLAT). The CGT initially sympathised with President Chávez’s project and several of its board members have been given high positions in the administration. The union arm of the Communist Party(PCV), the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Venezuela(United Workers Confederation of Venezuela)(CUTV), is another union federation, supported in particular by metal workers in the state of Aragua. No statements can be made about their membership numbers because they have not been involved in any elections. At an 3