The Democratic Reformist Party (''Partido Reformista Democrático'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

) was a Spanish political party led by

Miquel Roca Miquel Roca i Junyent (Bordeaux, France, 20 April 1940) is a Spanish lawyer and politician from Democratic Convergence of Catalonia. He is one of the Fathers of the Constitution in Spain. Early life Miquel Roca i Junyent was descendant to two C ...

founded in 1983. It was supported by the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) of Antonio Garrigues Walker, the Riojan Progressive Party (PRP) and the

Majorcan Union Majorcan Union ( ca, Unió Mallorquina, UM; ) was a regional liberal party on the island of Majorca, Spain. It was founded in October 1982, as a nationalist continuation of the then disintegrating Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD). The main ...

. It was known as "Operation Roca", referring to its main leader and candidate for

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, Miquel Roca i Junyent. The party ran in all of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, with the exception of Galicia, where it was represented by

Galician Coalition Galician Coalition ( Galician: Coalición Galega, CG) is a political party in Galiza with a Galician nationalist and centrist ideology. Since 2012 CG is part of the coalition Compromiso por Galicia. History Coalition CG was born as an electoral ...

(CG), and

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, where its representative was

Convergence and Union Convergence and Union ( ca, Convergència i Unió, CiU; ) was a Catalan nationalist electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. It was a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller coun ...

(CiU). The party got 194,538 votes (0.96%) in the 1986 general election, failing to gain any seats. Due to this defeat the party dissolved itself in 1986.

History

The Democratic Reformist Party was born in 1983 as a political operation undertaken by politicians from

CiU Convergence and Union ( ca, Convergència i Unió, CiU; ) was a Catalan nationalist electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. It was a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) and its smaller coun ...

and the former UCD for the 1986 general election. This project soon received the name of "Operation Roca" by the name of one of its promoters, the Catalan politician Miquel Roca i Junyent, although there were other promoters such as the former president of the CGPJ, Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles y Rodríguez, as well as lawyers, businessmen, etc. From the journalistic world the project had the support of the

Diario 16 ''Diario 16'' (Spanish for "Daily 16" or "Newspaper 16") was a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Madrid, Spain, between 1976 and 2001. The ''16'' of the title refers to the sixteen founders of Grupo 16, publishers of the weekly news m ...

newspaper and of its then director,

Pedro J. Ramírez Pedro José Ramírez Codina (born 26 March 1952), widely known as Pedro J. Ramírez, is a Spanish journalist. When he was appointed to manage ''Diario 16'' at the age of 28, he became Spain's youngest editor of a national newspaper. In 1989 he ...

.José Díaz Herrera (2009). ''Pedro J. Ramírez, al desnudo'', Ediciones Akal, pág. 55 The PRD was officially registered on 11 March 1983 while on May 19, its first foundational meeting was held, with the participation of members of the

Canarian Convergence Canarian Convergence ( es, Convergencia Canaria, CC) was a centrist Canarian nationalist political party operating in the Canary Islands. History CC was created in September 1982 by ex-members of the Canarian Union of the Democratic Centre. In ...

, the Independent Group of

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

, and

; and its first “summit” took place on 5 July with representatives from 25 provinces in attendance. The reformist operation also had the support of the banking sector, and of the employers, especially the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations (CEOE), whose president promised the PRD economic support for the electoral campaign worth 16,000 million pesetas. Despite its supposed centrist and liberal character, for many potential voters the PRD was too identified with Catalan politics and presented a very confusing political profile. Certainly the leaders of the party sinned of optimism, since they considered that Felipe González’s

PSOE 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 ...

would not manage to obtain the absolute majority and that the People’s Alliance (AP) of

Manuel Fraga Manuel Fraga Iribarne (; 23 November 1922 – 15 January 2012) was a Spanish professor and politician in Francoist Spain, who was also the founder of the People's Party. Fraga was Minister of Information and Tourism between 1962 and 1969, Ambas ...

had reached its peak. In fact, one of the premises of the PRD was that it could subtract votes and seats from two of the parties allied with AP, the

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) *People's Democratic Party (Chile) * People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

(PDP) of Oscar Alzaga 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 ...

. The party celebrated its constituent congress from 23–25 November 1984, when Antonio Garrigues Walker was elected as its president.

Election results

Congress of Deputies / Senate

Facing the elections the party stood in all provinces except in

and Galicia, where their referents were

(CiU) and

(CG), respectively. Paradoxically, although Miquel Roca was presented to the elections as the Prime Ministerial candidate, Roca ran under the CiU banner, not the PRD one. On the day of the elections, the Democratic Reformist Party obtained some 194,538 votes (0.96% of the total votes cast), although no seats. In addition, the

revalidated its absolute majority and there was no leak from AP. Convergence and Union (CiU) did manage to obtain good results in Catalonia, reaching 30% of the vote in the

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (, ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Province of Girona Girona (; es, Gerona ; french: Gérone) is a province of Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered on the northwest by the province of Lleida, on the southwest by the province of Barcelona, on the ...

. Galician Coalition also managed to elect one deputy.Félix Martínez, Jordi Oliveres (2005). ''Jordi Pujol: en nombre de Cataluña'', Ed. Debate, pág. 265 The results were an absolute failure for the PRD. It was also a failure for CiU, which although considerably improved its results in Catalonia, saw its political operation frustrated in the rest of Spain.Félix Martínez, Jordi Oliveres (2005). ''Jordi Pujol: en nombre de Cataluña'', Ed. Debate, pág. 264 Given the poor results obtained, the party was practically dissolved on the same night of the elections; On the other hand, Convergence and Union ignored the situation (Roca even refused to appear in public for the results) and broke with the reformist project. Although the remaining parties survived the reformist operation, Garrigues Walker's Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) disappeared. The executive committee of the PRD, which was headed by Garrigues himself, resigned from the party on 26 September 1986.

References

La Operación Roca (Spanish)
{{Authority control Political parties established in 1983 Political parties disestablished in 1986 Liberal parties in Spain Centrist parties in Spain 1983 establishments in Spain 1986 disestablishments in Spain