The National Restoration Party ('' es, Partido Restauración Nacional'' – PRN or PREN) is a political party in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
. It was founded in 2005 by
Carlos Avendaño Calvo
Carlos Avendaño Calvo (born 23 November 1955) is a Costa Rican politician as well as an Evangelical christianity, Evangelical pastor and theologian. He is the founder of the National Restoration Party (Costa Rica), National Restoration Party.
...
mostly by dissidents of Costa Rica's historical
Christian party,
Costa Rican Renewal, after its then only deputy, Carlos Avendaño Calvo, left.
Avendaño would successfully return to Congress because of the party from 2010 to 2014. Even though he had personal differences with
Justo Orozco (then the PRC's only deputy), both were able to work together in defending the same agenda, mainly the conservative views of the
evangelical community. The party's candidate in the
presidential election of 2014 was Avendaño, who received 1.35 percent of the vote.
In the same year's
parliamentary 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 ( ...
,
Gerardo Fabricio Alvarado Muñoz, representing
San José, was elected to the only seat in the
Legislative Assembly that was won by the party.
In the
2018 Costa Rican general election
General elections were held in Costa Rica in 2018 to elect both the President and Legislative Assembly. The first round of the presidential election was held on 4 February 2018, with the two highest-ranked candidates being Christian singer an ...
s the party when it won 14 of the parliament seats and its presidential candidate,
Fabricio Alvarado Fabricio () is a Spanish male given name. Fabrício () is the Portuguese equivalent.
Among those with the first name are:
*Fabricio Coloccini, Argentine footballer
*Fabrício Guerreiro (born 1990), Brazilian mixed martial artist
*Fabricio Oberto, A ...
, went in to the runoff. According to the BBC, his campaign gained in popularity because of his opposition to
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
. The party also holds anti-immigration positions and calls for closed borders and harsher controls on migrants.
Controversies
In March 2018, the newspaper ''Semanario Universidad'' reported that high figures of the party had billed several million
colones for professional services for participating in their own campaign such as the beneficiaries' own candidate, Fabricio Alvarado, his wife, his brothers, his two vice-presidential nominees, two sons, and the ex-wife of the party president,
Carlos Avendaño
Carlos may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Carlos, Alberta, a locality
;United States
* Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County
* Carlos, Minnesota, a small city
* Carlos, West Virginia
;Elsewhe ...
. It was later discovered that one of the beneficiaries, the son of Avendaño, had received professional services for working for the party while he was incapacitated by health from his official work at the
Costa Rican Institute of Electricity
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad ( en, Costa Rican Institute of Electricity) (ICE) is the Costa Rican government-run electricity and telecommunications services provider. Together with the Radiographic Costarricense SA (RACSA) and Compa ...
. In May 2018, it was reported that the party had hired the polling company OPol, according to financial reports submitted to the
Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Although party officials originally reported that they were political consultancies unrelated to the polls, subsequent investigations by the newspaper ''
La Nación
''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina.
Its motto is: "''La N ...
'' discovered a contract for the payment of the six surveys that were conducted during the second round campaign, five of which were published and all of which Alvarado appeared as frontrunner by a large margin. Previously, the pollster had already been in controversy after it was reported on social networks that a company vehicle driven by director Mauricio Muñoz, had carried party flags.
In late May, Avendaño himself filed a complaint with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for what he called a "parallel structure" made up of the campaign team of the candidate for hiring outside the ethical controls stipulated by the party that would have been the one that negotiated those and other payments.
Electoral performance
Presidential
Parliamentary
See also
*
Evangelical political parties in Latin America
The political influence of Evangelicalism in Latin America is a phenomenon that has resulted in increased political influence and activism by the Evangelical Christian community in the region. Marginal at first, different news reports and political ...
References
External links
Official Webpage
Facebook page
PRN Statute at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal
{{Costa Rican political parties
Conservative parties in Costa Rica
Protestant political parties
Protestantism in Costa Rica
Right-wing populism in North America
Political parties established in 2005
2000s establishments in Costa Rica
Social conservative parties