The Christian Democratic Party ( es, Partido Demócrata Cristiano, links=no) is a Christian democratic

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...

in El Salvador. After being officially disbanded by the Supreme Court in 2011, it continued to work under the name of Party of Hope ( es, Partido de la Esperanza), before re-taking its original name in 2012. In the

legislative elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, held on 16 March 2003, the party won 7.3% of the popular vote and 5 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly. In the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

of 21 March 2004, the PDC supported

Héctor Silva Argüello Hector () is an English, French, Scottish, and Spanish given name. The name is derived from the name of Hektor, a legendary Trojan champion who was killed by the Greek Achilles. The name ''Hektor'' is probably derived from the Greek ''ékhein'', m ...

of the United Democratic Centre, who won 3% of the vote. In the 12 March 2006

legislative election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, the party won 6.8% of the popular vote and 6 out of 84 seats. The party had a similar level of support for the 2009 legislative elections, winning 6% of the vote and 5 seats.

History

The Christian Democratic Party is the longest lasting of El Salvador's two leading parties. It was the left-of-center party while the

Party of National Conciliation The National Coalition Party ( es, Partido de Concertación Nacional, PCN) is a nationalist political party in El Salvador. Until 2011 it was known as the National Conciliation Party ( es, Partido de Conciliación Nacional, PCN). It was the most ...

was right-of-center. With the rise of more socialist and communist parties in El Salvador, it became more of a centrist party. During the civil war, many leaders of the PDC who were more left-leaning were killed or disappeared, and the party moved to the right. Zaldivar Napoleón Duarte

In 1989 Christian Democrat

José Napoleón Duarte José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes (23 November 1925 – 23 February 1990) was a Salvadoran politician who served as President of El Salvador from 1 June 1984 to 1 June 1989. He was mayor of San Salvador before running for president in 1972. He l ...

was the first Salvadoran president to democratically hand over power to a successor. The party's position has since shrunk with the rise of

ARENA An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

and FMLN. However, since no party held a majority in the legislature, it could be seen as effectively holding the balance of power. It often sided with ARENA and supported their effort to ratify the

Central American Free Trade Agreement Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and pass a law supposedly aimed at fighting terrorism. They struggled to pick a presidential candidate for 2009. The vice presidential candidate lives in the United States and has campaigned promising to give Salvadorans abroad the opportunity to vote in future presidential elections. While the party was technically to be disbanded after the 2004 election, in which its candidate did not gather the necessary 3% of the vote, it was allowed to hold on to its registration by decree; this decree was declared unconstitutional on 30 April 2011, and the party was thus disbanded. The PDC was effectively replaced by the ''Party of Hope'', which was registered with the National Electoral Tribunal in October 2011. In September 2012 the Party of Hope asked for its name to be changed back to Christian Democratic Party, which was allowed by the Electoral Tribunal.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Note

In the 1982 election

Álvaro Magaña Álvaro Alfredo Magaña Borja (October 8, 1925 – July 10, 2001) was a Salvadoran lawyer, economist and politician who was the president of El Salvador from 1982 to 1984. Biography He was born in Ahuachapán, El Salvador, and received h ...

was elected by the Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly elections

¹As part of Union of Democratic Parties, an alliance of the

Renovating Action Party Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

, the Christian Democratic Party and the Social Democrat Party. ²As part of

National Opposing Union The National Opposing Union ( es, Unión Nacional Opositora, abbreviated as UNO) was a Salvadoran political coalition which existed from 1972 to 1979. The coalition was composed of the Christian Democratic Party, the National Revolutionary Mov ...

, an alliance of the Christian Democratic Party, the

National Revolutionary Movement The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement ( es, Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario , MNR) is a centre-right conservative political party in Bolivia and was the leading force behind the Bolivian National Revolution from 1952 to 1964. It influenc ...

and the

Nationalist Democratic Union Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

External links

Website of the party

References

{{Authority control Catholic political parties Christian democratic parties in North America Political parties in El Salvador Salvadoran Civil War Political parties established in 1960 1960 establishments in El Salvador