National Encounter Party

Last updated

National Encounter Party
Partido Encuentro Nacional
AbbreviationPEN
President Gloria Portillo [1]
Founder Guillermo Caballero
Founded26 October 1991 (1991-10-26)
Headquarters Asunción
Ideology Social democracy
Third Way
Political position Centre-left
National affiliation Concertación
Chamber of Deputies
1 / 80
Senate
1 / 45
Website
www.encuentronacional.org.py

The National Encounter Party (Spanish : Partido Encuentro Nacional, PEN) is a political party in Paraguay.

Contents

History

The National Encounter Movement was established on 26 October 1991. Prior to the 1993 elections the National Encounter Party was established as a coalition of the Revolutionary Febrerista Party, the Christian Democratic Party, Asuncion for All and a breakaway faction of the Colorado Party. [2] The elections saw the party receive 17.9% of the national vote, becoming the country's third largest party with nine seats in the Chamber of Deputies and eight in the Senate. Together with the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), it held a majority in the Chamber of Deputies opposed to the ruling Colorado Party. Its candidate in the presidential election, Guillermo Caballero Vargas, received 24.1% of the vote. Their candidate for the vice-presidency, María Victoria Brusquetti, was the first ever woman to run for the position. [3]

For the 1998 general elections the party formed an alliance with the PLRA named the Democratic Alliance, with the party's president, Carlos Filizzola, providing the alliance's vice-presidential candidate. However, the PEN was reduced to eight seats in the Chamber and seven in the Senate as the Colorado Party regained their majority in both houses, and the alliance's presidential candidate, Domingo Laino finished second with 43.9% of the vote. [4] [5] In 2000 Filizzola, who had been the party's president from April 1996 to March 1999, led his Movimiento Participación Amplia, Integración Solidaridad (PAIS) faction out of the party to form the Party for a Country of Solidarity. [5]

By the 2003 elections support for the party had dwindled, and it won only one seat in the Senate and none in the Chamber of Deputies, whilst its presidential candidate, Diego Abente Brun received just 0.6% of the vote. For the 2008 elections the party joined the Patriotic Alliance for Change, which won two seats in the Chamber.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

ElectionParty candidateVotes%Result
1993 Guillermo Caballero Vargas 262,40724.39%LostRed x.svg
1998 Supported Domingo Laíno (PLRA)703,37943.88%LostRed x.svg
2003 Diego Abente Brun8,7450.58%LostRed x.svg
2008 Supported Fernando Lugo (PDC)766,50242.40%ElectedGreen check.svg

Chamber of Deputies elections

ElectionVotes%Seats+/–
1993 199,05317.7%
9 / 80
Increase2.svg 9
1998 681,917

(as part of Democratic Alliance)

42.8%
35 / 80
Increase2.svg 26
2003 39,3722.7%
0 / 80
Decrease2.svg 35
2008 14,2270.80%
0 / 80
Steady2.svg
2013 108,6624.84%
2 / 80
Increase2.svg 2
2018 75,5143.18%
2 / 80
Steady2.svg

Senate elections

ElectionVotes%Seats+/–
1993 203,21317.9%
8 / 80
Increase2.svg 8
1998 661,764

(as part of Democratic Alliance)

42.1%
20 / 45
Increase2.svg 12
2003 31,2122.1%
1 / 45
Decrease2.svg 19
2008 20,8431.19%
0 / 45
Steady2.svg
2013 78,4603.49%
1 / 45
Increase2.svg 1
2018 30,3651.29%
0 / 45
Decrease2.svg 1

Notes

The Democratic Alliance was an alliance of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party and the National Encounter Party

References

  1. "José Luis Torales renuncia al PEN y lo reemplaza Gloria Portillo". ABC Color (in Spanish). 24 January 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
  2. Nohlen 2005, p. 427.
  3. Marcial Antonio Riquelme (1994). Negotiating Democratic Corridors in Paraguay: The Report of the Latin American Studies Association Delegation to Observe the 1993 Paraguayan National Elections. Latin American Studies Association, University of Pittsburgh. pp. 28–9.
  4. Nohlen 2005, p. 436.
  5. 1 2 "Senador Carlos Alberto Filizzola Pallarés" (in Spanish). Senate of Paraguay. Archived from the original on 15 May 2007.

Bibliography