The People's Party (Spanish: Partido Popular, until 2001 the Christian Democratic Party of Panama) is a PanamanianChristian democraticpolitical party. Beginning in 1956, as Social Democratic Action, it was made up of middle-class professionals, intellectuals and students, with support from trade unions, particularly the Federation of Christian Workers. It went on to become one of Latin America's most conservative and anti-communist Christian democratic parties.[2] The ideological foundation of the party is based on the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. The PP is a full member of the Christian Democrat International and Christian Democratic Organization of America.[3]
In 2004, the PP allied with the New Fatherland (PN) and its candidate Martín Torrijos Espino of Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).[4] In 2009, the PP allied with the One Country for All (UPPT) and its candidate Balbina Herrera of Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).[5] In 2014, the PP allied with the Panameñista Party and its candidate Juan Carlos Varela to form the El Pueblo Primero alliance, which won the election with 39% of the vote on May 4, 2014. As a result, several members of the party are currently serving in the Varela Administration, highlighted by the party's president Milton Henriquez who serves as Minister of Government.
History
The People's Party traces its origins to the “First Week of Christian Studies,” which met at Las Cumbres in March 1956. Those who participated in this and the “Second Week of Christian Studies” in July 1956 included intellectuals who had expressed their desire for Social Christian action.[6] The group that organized these meetings formally established itself on 12 April 1956 and first called itself Social Democratic Action. From 1957 to 1960 it called itself the National Civic Union for the Christian Democratic Movement.[7] In 1960, the organizers decided on the name the Christian Democratic Party of Panama (Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Panama, PDC).[8]
The PDC's leading figures were middle-class professionals, intellectuals and students, but support also came from the trade union.[9] In particular, the Federation of Christian Workers, established in 1961, was closely aligned with the PDC.[7]
Early in 1964 the party chose its first set of candidates for a national election.[6] For that year's elections, the PDC presented its first presidential candidate, José Antonio Molino, who was supported by Panama's Teachers Union. He received 9,681 votes (2.98%), coming in fourth among seven nominees.[10] That was considered a success for the new party and was enough to assure its registration as a legal party. The Christian Democrats continued to be a small but well-organized element in Panamanian politics in the succeeding years.[6] In the 1968 general election, the PDC candidate, Antonio González Revilla, received 11,371 votes (3.55%). In 1964 and 1968 the PDC won one parliamentary seat.[10]
In 1968, the radical wing of the leadership was expelled, and the increasingly right-wing party supported the government of Arnulfo Arias. It was backed by a tiny electorate consisting of urban professionals and a business group led by the Romero family. Arias chose a member of the PDC as minister of education, but his government lasted only 11 days.[9]
All political parties such as the PDC were banned by Omar Torrijos after the military coup of 1968. During the Torrijos government (1968–1978), the Christian Democrats opposed the military regime and called for a civilian-ruled democracy.[8] In the 1970s and the 1980s, the PDC was generally regarded as a well-organized and binding element of the opposition.[11] The PDC was one of the few parties within National Opposition Front (FRENO) (a coalition of eight opposition parties formed in March 1979) that offered a programmatic alternative to military government policy by calling for substantial social reforms and expanded participation in democratic processes.[12] The PDC advocated for introducing nationalist social reforms to preclude revolutionary action.[7] Its leader, Ricardo Arias Calderón, was the main promoter of the formation of a united opposition against the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). The leaders of the party strongly opposed the government, seeing in its actions "a furthering of communist penetration into Central America."[11]
The PDC re-registered on 28 August 1980.[13] The PDC won 20.6% of the vote and two seats in the 1980 legislative elections (to 19 of the 56 seats in the newly formed National Legislative Council, the other 37 being filled by nominees of a non-party National Assembly of Community Representatives established in 1972).[8]
In December 1981, Calderón was elected president of the Organization of Christian-Democratic Parties of America.[11]
In 1984, it was part of the Democratic Opposition Alliance (ADO), which supported the presidential candidacy of Arnulfo Arias of Authentic Panameñista Party (PPA). Ricardo Arias Calderón was a Second Vice-Presidential candidate.[14] The ADO lost the presidential and legislative elections following suspected widespread fraud by the military. In 1987, the PDC became increasingly involved in confrontations with the government, openly campaigning by strikes (supported mainly by businesses rather than labor unions) and street demonstrations (which were often violently repressed) for the resignation or removal of General Manuel Noriega. Ricardo Arias Calderón referring to charges against Manuel Noriega of murder, drug trafficking, corruption, and electoral fraud, described him as "virtually a dictator and gangster".[8]
For the 1989 elections, the PDC was the main component of the Democratic Alliance of Civic Opposition (ADOC), with the Guillermo Endara as the coalition's presidential candidate.[9] Calderón was viewed as a likely successor to Arias as the principal spokesman for the opposition, eventually accepting nomination as ADOC First Vice-Presidential candidate in 1989.[14]
The PDC polled 261,598 votes (40.18%), coming in first among twelve nominees.[15] After the official ratification of the results following the US military invasion in December 1989, Calderón became First Vice-President and Interior and Justice Minister, and the PDC became the largest party in the Legislative Assembly with 28 of the 67 seats.[9] Emboldened by a plurality within the Legislative Assembly, the PDC was estranged from its coalition partners in September 1990 when they joined with the opposition PRD to reject its nominees for chamber officials. The party stayed within the ADOC until April 1991, when its ministerial delegation was ousted by President Guillermo Endara for displaying "disloyalty and arrogance."[14] That had followed months of infighting during which Calderón had publicly described Guillermo Endara's economic program, which advocated severe austerity measures and the privatization of state enterprises, as "senseless." Its withdrawal from the ADOC coalition government caused a political crisis.
In succeeding months, the PDC became the leader of the opposition, to such an extent that it was exerting strong influence within such organizations as the Civic Crusade, an organization from which Endara had drawn his strongest support and called for a plebiscite to decide on his desirability of Endara remaining in office.[3] In September 1991, the PDC was judged[by whom?] firmly to have secured its political influence on parliamentary committees as a direct result of facilitating the victory of a dissident Authentic Liberal Party (PLA) candidate in the election of a new President of the Legislative Assembly.[3] Calderón resigned as First Vice-President of the Republic in December 1992 in a move that was seen as reflecting a desire to distance himself from Endara.[14]
In 1994, Eduardo Vallarino, the candidate of PDC, unsuccessfully ran in the presidential elections, obtaining only 25,476 votes (2.39%). As a result, the party only managed to gain one seat in the legislative elections.[15] For the 1999 elections, the PDC was the main component of the Opposition Action Alliance (AAO), with the PDC's Alberto Vallarino Clement as the coalition's presidential candidate. He polled 221,459 votes (17.38%) and came fourth (the PDC – 140,824 and 11.05%). The PDC won 5 legislative seats.[4]
In 2014, the PP allied with the Panameñista Party and its candidate Juan Carlos Varela to form the El Pueblo Primero alliance, which won the election with 39% of the vote on May 4, 2014. As a result, several members of the party are currently serving in the Varela Administration, highlighted by the party's president Milton Henriquez who serves as Minister of Government.
Arnulfo Arias Madrid was a Panamanian politician, medical doctor, and writer who served as the President of Panama from 1940 to 1941, again from 1949 to 1951, and finally for 11 days in October 1968.
Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez de Arias is a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1999 to 2004. She is the country's first female president.
General elections were held in Panama on Sunday, 2 May 2004, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly.
Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino is a Panamanian politician who was President of Panama from 2004 to 2009.
Guillermo David Endara Galimany was a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1989 to 1994. Raised in a family allied to Panameñista Party founder Arnulfo Arias, Endara attended school in exile in the United States and Argentina following Arias's removal from power. Endara later received a law degree in Panama. He subsequently served as a member of Panama's National Assembly, and briefly as a government minister before heading into exile again following Arias' third overthrow.
The Democratic Revolutionary Party is a political party in Panama founded in 1979 by General Omar Torrijos. It is generally described as being positioned on the centre to centre-left.
The Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement is a centre-right conservative-liberal political party in Panama.
The Christian Democratic Party is a Salvadoran political party. From 2011 to 2012, the party was renamed to Party of Hope before reverting to the Christian Democratic Party. The PDC has been led by Reinaldo Carballo since 2023.
The Panameñista Party is a nationalist political party in Panama. It was the third largest party by number of adherents with 256,138 members.
General elections were held in Panama on May 3, 2009.
Panama is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America.
General elections were held in Panama on 8 May 1994, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly.
General elections were held in Panama on 6 May 1984, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly.
General elections were held in Panama on 7 May 1989, with the goal of electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly. The two primary candidates in the presidential race were Guillermo Endara, who headed Democratic Alliance of Civic Opposition (ADOC), a coalition opposed to military ruler Manuel Noriega, and Carlos Duque, who headed the pro-Noriega Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).
Parliamentary elections were held in Panama on 28 September 1980, electing a new National Legislative Council.
Parliamentary elections were held in Panama on 6 August 1978, electing both a new National Assembly of Community Representatives.
Ricardo Arias Calderón was a Panamanian politician who served as First Vice President from 1989 to 1992. A Catholic who studied at Yale and the Sorbonne, Arias returned to Panama in the 1960s to work for political reform. He went on to become the president of the Christian Democratic Party of Panama and a leading opponent of the military government of Manuel Noriega. In 1984, he ran as a candidate for Second Vice President on the ticket of three-time former president Arnulfo Arias, but they were defeated by pro-Noriega candidate Nicolás Ardito Barletta.
Carlos Alberto Duque Jaén was a Panamanian businessman and politician who was President-for-Life of Panama's Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD). He was a presidential candidate for the PRD in the 1989 presidential election.
General elections were held in Panama on 4 May 2014. Due to constitutional term limits, Incumbent President Ricardo Martinelli was ineligible for a second consecutive term. Incumbent Vice President Juan Carlos Varela of the Partido Panameñista was declared the victor with 39% of the votes.
Antonio Dominguez Richa was a Panamanian politician and diplomat. He was the a district councilor, director of immigration of Panama, a vice deputy to the Central America Parliament, and a founding member of the Panameñista party. He was also the owner of a business that went by the name of Villa de Caracas. He was married to Carmen "Carmensita" Alvarez and had six children, including Antonio Dominguez Alvarez and Jose Antonio Dominguez.
1 2 3 Latin American Political Parties. By Robert J. Alexander. (New York: Praeger Publishers,. 1973. Pp. 366.
1 2 3 Political parties of the Americas: Canada, Latin America, and the West Indies. V. 1. Edited by Robert J. Alexander. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982. Pp. 564.
1 2 3 4 Political parties of the world. 3rd edn. Edited by Alan J. Day. Harlow: Longman. 1988. Pp 353.
1 2 3 4 The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of Central America and the Caribbean. Gunson, Phil. New York, NY: Academic Reference Division, Simon & Schuster, 1993. Pp.81.
↑ Library of Congress, Federal Research Division. Panama: A Country Study. Ed. Sandra W. Meditz and Dennis M. Hanratty. Washington: GPO, 1989. Pp. 314.
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