Maria Corina currently represents the state of Miranda in the National Assembly of Venezuela. She leads the Independent Parliamentary Faction and sits on the Interior Policy Committee. She also ran as an independent presidential candidate in the opposition primaries held in February 2012. Previously, she co-founded and was chairman of SUMATE, Venezuela’s leading watchdog for electoral transparency and promoter of civil liberties and political rights. Under Maria Corina´s guidance, SUMATE´s network of volunteers grew to include more than 30,000 members from all over Venezuela. In 2004, using the right granted by the new Bolivarian Constitution to call for popular referendums, SUMATE successfully organized national petition-signing drives that reached more than a quarter of all registered voters in the country.