The Christian Social Party (, PSC) is a

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

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

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

.Partido Social Cristiano, Ecuador.
Quienes somos
'. Consultado el 12 de diciembre de 2023. The party was founded in 1951 under the name of Christian Social Movement (''Movimiento Social Cristiano'') by Camilo Ponce Enríquez, who was Ecuador's president from 1956 to 1960, and

Sixto Durán Ballén Sixto Alfonso Durán-Ballén Cordovez (14 July 1921 – 15 November 2016) was an Ecuadorian political figure and architect who served as the 37th president of Ecuador from 1992 to 1996. He previously served as Mayor of Quito between 1970 and 197 ...

. It was initially focused on

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. Since the 1980s, however, the party's popularity is more present on the coastal areas, particularly around Ecuador's economic center and most populous city,

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

, and in coastal provinces, such as Guayas, El Oro, Los Rios, and Manabi, which constitute about half of the country's population. However, as a sign of deep regional divide on politics, the party has little power in the

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

region. Thus, while holding all major positions in Guayas and Guayaquil, the PSC has not held the presidential office since the presidency of

León Febres Cordero León Esteban Febres-Cordero Ribadeneyra (9 March 1931 – 15 December 2008), known in the Ecuadorian media as LFC or more simply Febres-Cordero, was an Ecuadorian politician who was the 35th President of Ecuador, serving a four-year term from ...

(1984–88). In 1978, the party's centrist and leftist wing split-off to form the centre

Popular Democracy Popular democracy is a notion of direct democracy based on referendums and other devices of empowerment and concretization of popular will. The concept evolved out of the political philosophy of populism, as a fully democratic version of this p ...

party under

Osvaldo Hurtado Luis Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea (born 26 June 1939) is an Ecuadorian author and politician who served as President of Ecuador from 24 May 1981 to 10 August 1984. Hurtado was born in Chambo, Chimborazo Province. During his studies at the Catholi ...

, who was the country's president from 1981 to 1984. After Febres Cordero's faction inside the PSC succeeded in appointing

Jaime Nebot Jaime José Nebot Saadi (born October 22, 1946) is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician. He formerly served as mayor of Guayaquil, which is Ecuador's largest city. He is affiliated with the Christian Social Party (PSC) and the . Nebot ran twice f ...

as the party's presidential candidate,

and his supporters left the party to form the more right-wing Republican Union. Eventually, Durán was elected president for the period 1992–1996. Nebot was the party's presidential candidate again in 1996. He won first place in the first round with 28% of the vote, but lost in the runoff with 46% of the vote to

Abdalá Bucaram Abdalá Jaime Bucaram Ortiz ( ; ; born 4 February 1952) is an Ecuadorian politician and lawyer who was the 38th president of Ecuador from 1996 until his removal from office in 1997. As president, Bucaram was nicknamed "El Loco Que Ama" ("The Madm ...

. The PSC candidate, Xavier Neira, won 12.2 percent of the vote in the 2002 presidential election. Its candidate in the 2006 presidential election was

Cynthia Viteri Cynthia Fernanda Viteri Jiménez de Váscones (born 19 November 1965) is an Ecuadorian lawyer, journalist and politician. On March 24, 2019, she was elected Mayor of Guayaquil, the second-largest city in Ecuador, in the sectional elections of Ecu ...

. She garnered 9.91 percent of the overall votes cast and failed to enter into the second round of runoff voting. Neira and Viteri both came in 5th place. At the 2006 legislative elections, the party won 13 of the 100 seats, much less than last period. After León Febres Cordero's death, Jaime Nebot took over the leadership of the party, and split it into a coalition with his provincial brother party called "Madera de Guerrero", an allusion to a song of the folklore of

with the same name. This coalition is the third force in the National Assembly (parliament). For the 2021 general elections, the party teamed up with

Creating Opportunities Creating Opportunities (, CREO, the acronym means , and also means ) is a centre-right to right-wing political party in Ecuador. In the 2021 general election, its leader, Guillermo Lasso was elected for president. Ideology Generally considered ...

with

Guillermo Lasso Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza (; born 16 November 1955) is an Ecuadorian businessman, banker and politician who served as the 47th president of Ecuador from 2021 to 2023. He was the country's first conservative president in nearly tw ...

and Lasso was ultimately elected in the run-off against

Andrés Arauz Andrés Arauz Galarza (born 6 February 1985) is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who ran for Vice President of Ecuador in the 2023 election. Arauz served as Minister of Knowledge and Human Talent in the Rafael Correa administration from ...

. For the

2023 Ecuadorian general election Snap election, Snap general elections were held in Ecuador on 20 August 2023 to elect the President of Ecuador, members of the National Assembly (Ecuador), National Assembly, and to decide on two referendums. The elections were triggered by the ...

, the PSC supported the candidacy of

Jan Topić Jan Tomislav Topić Feraud (born 23 April 1983) is an Ecuadorian businessman, economist, and politician who ran for President of Ecuador in the 2023 Ecuadorian general election. He was eliminated in the first round held on 20 August 2023, coming ...

. For the second round, the party announced they will support the candidacy of

Daniel Noboa Daniel Roy Gilchrist Noboa Azín ( ; ; born30 November 1987) is an Ecuadorian politician and businessman serving as the 48th and current president of Ecuador since 2023. Having first taken office at the age of 35, he is the second-youngest pr ...

, because the party "has never supported Correism". The party obtained less than 1% of the vote in the 2025 presidential elections. This failure is due to the electoral competition of

and corruption cases.

Election results

National Assembly elections

Constituent Assembly elections

References

{{Authority control 1951 establishments in Ecuador Christian democratic parties in South America Christian political parties Conservative parties in Ecuador Political parties established in 1951 Political parties in Ecuador