The Conservative Party (, PC) was a

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

nian political party. Panama inherited the traditional political parties of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

– the Conservative Party and the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

– which vied against one another from 1903 until the 1920s.Sandra W. Meditz and Dennis M. Hanratty, editors. Panama: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1987.
/ref> The local section, less doctrinaire than its Colombian parent, included most of the new nation's white minority, and was led by

Manuel Amador Guerrero Manuel Amador Guerrero (30 June 1833 – 2 May 1909), was the first president of Panama from 20 February 1904 to 1 October 1908. He was a member of the Conservative Party (Panama), Conservative Party. Early life Manuel Amador Guerrero was b ...

who served as the republic's first President. Although

actively supported the break with Colombia, most Conservatives had reservations about it.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. 566. It is described that “''the Conservatives had never identified strongly with the independence movement and were not able to develop a mass following. The dominant political focus was rather on divisions within the

''”. The chief divergence between the two parties' programs was on the question of public instruction, with the

favoring an educational system free from church control, and the Conservative Party advocating instruction under church auspices. Aside from this main issue, the parties were becoming rather similar ideologically at the time, with a 1930s article stating “t''he ideological lines of liberalism and conservatism have never coincided with actual party lines. The real division has always been between the Government party and the Opposition party; and Liberals and Conservatives have figured on both sides. Since the revolution of 2 January 1931, party lines have become more indistinct than ever''”.Political Handbook of the world, 1934. New York, 1934. Pp. 140. Subsequently, as the party grew more liberal, its ideological differences with the Liberal Party dwindled, and many of its members joined the Liberals or other political organizations. Continuous Liberal Party success after 1912 severely damaged the Conservative Party, and by the 1920s it had ceased to be a serious factor in Panamanian politics. Additionally, by that time, most of the Conservative leaders of the independence generation had died without leaving political heirs. The PC was abolished by the Electoral Tribunal on 26 September 1952.

References

{{Authority control 1903 establishments in Panama 1952 disestablishments in Panama Conservative parties in North America Defunct political parties in Panama Political parties disestablished in 1952 Political parties established in 1903 Banned political parties