Asturias Forum ( es, Foro Asturias, ast, Foru Asturies, Foro), previously known as Forum of Citizens ( es, Foro de Ciudadanos, FAC) is a regionalist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in the

Principality of Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive ...

History

Asturias Forum was founded in January 2011 by former

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Francisco Álvarez Cascos Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

, who left the People's Party (PP) after failing to be selected as the party's candidate for

President of the Principality of Asturias The President of the Principality of Asturias ( es, Presidente del Principado de Asturias); ast, Presidente del Principáu d'Asturies) is the head of government of the Spanish autonomous community of Asturias. The president is chosen by the Gene ...

in the 2011 election. In the Asturian election, Álvarez Cascos led the party under the name "Forum of Citizens" ( es, Foro de Ciudadanos). FAC won sixteen seats, making it the largest party on the General Council. Together with the PP, FAC's gains gave the centre-right a majority in Asturias for the first time. The party has spoken to all three other parties to create a more consensual political climate. At the November 2011 Spanish election, the party won one of Asturias's eight seats in the

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies ( es, link=no, Congreso de los Diputados, italic=unset) is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Ma ...

. After months of deadlock in the Asturian regional assembly, fresh elections were held, in which FAC lost 4 seats, becoming the second largest party behind the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...

(PSOE). On 12 February 2015, Francisco Álvarez-Cascos surprisingly announced he would not stand again as Asturias Forum's candidate and resigned to the presidency of the party. Álvarez-Cascos was succeeded by

Cristina Coto Cristina is a female given name, and it is also a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Cristina (daughter of Edward the Exile), 11th-century English princess *Cristina (singer), Cristina Monet-Palaci (1956–2020), American s ...

, while he went on to become the party's secretary-general. After the resignation of Cristina Coto due to differences with Álvarez Cascos,

Carmen Moriyón María del Carmen Moriyón Entrialgo (born 25 October 1966), is a Spanish surgeon and politician. She headed the list of Asturias Forum to the mayor of Gijón in the municipal elections of Spain in 2011, getting 9 councilors and becoming the fir ...

, mayoress of

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

, was elected new president of the party on 29 September 2018.

Presidents

Francisco Álvarez-Cascos Francisco Álvarez–Cascos Fernández (born 1 October 1947) is a Spanish politician. He was Secretary-General of the ruling Partido Popular from 1989 to 1999 and the President of the Principality of Asturias from 2011 to 2012. He studied civi ...

2011–2015 *Cristina Coto 2015–2018 *

2018–present

Electoral performance

Cortes Generales The Cortes Generales (; en, Spanish Parliament, lit=General Courts) are the bicameral legislative chambers of Spain, consisting of the Congress of Deputies (the lower house), and the Senate (the upper house). The Congress of Deputies meets ...

Asturias

* * Within People's Party–Asturias Forum.

General Junta of the Principality of Asturias The General Junta of the Principality of Asturias (in Spanish: ''Junta General del Principado de Asturias'', in Asturian: ''Xunta Xeneral del Principáu d'Asturies'') is the parliament of Asturias, an autonomous community of Spain. Its Statute of ...

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

Footnotes

Political parties in Asturias Political parties established in 2011 2011 establishments in Spain Catholic political parties Centrist parties in Spain {{Asturias-stub