The Social Christian Unity Party ( es, Partido Unidad Social Cristiana) is a
centre-right
Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
in
Costa Rica.
PUSC considers itself a
Christian-democratic
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
party and, as such, is a member of the
Christian Democrat Organization of America (ODCA). It was founded in 1983 by merger of the parties that were part of the
Unity Coalition: the Christian Democratic, the Republican Calderonista, People's Union and the Democratic Renovation Party. Its historical roots are in ''
Calderonism'', i.e. the movement of supporters of
Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia
Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (March 8, 1900 – June 9, 1970) was a Costa Rican medical doctor and politician, who served as President from 1940 to 1944.
Early life
Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia was born on 8 March 1900 in San José. In his ...
, who was the country's president in the 1940s. From its foundation until 2006, the PUSC was one of Costa Rica's
two dominant parties, alongside the
National Liberation Party. It provided three presidents:
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (born 14 March 1949) was President of Costa Rica from 1990 to 1994. He was the presidential candidate of the Social Christian Unity Party for the national elections held in February 2010, but resigned his candida ...
(1990–94),
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría (born 9 January 1940) is a Costa Rican economist, lawyer, businessman and politician who served as President of Costa Rica from 1998 to 2002. He was minister of planning from 1968 to 1970 and minister of ...
(1998–2002) and
Abel Pacheco (2002–06).
History
Negotiations among the main
right-wing opposition parties to create a political force capable of confronting the
National Libertation Party (PLN) started as early as 1973. Yet, wasn’t until 1977 that four political parties; People's Union (
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
), Christian Democratic Party (
Christian Democracy), Republican Calderonista (Calderonism) and Democratic Renovation (
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote s ...
) united forces in the
Unity Coalition. After a primary election
Rodrigo Carazo became the alliance's nominee gaining victory in the
1978 general election.
The Coalition not only achieved the Presidency but also a non-PLN parliamentary majority for the first time since PLN's foundation. Yet, Carazo's administration was very unpopular due to the economic crisis and the tensions with neighbor
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...
due to Costa Rica's support of the rebel guerrilla
FSLN. Thus,
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (born 14 March 1949) was President of Costa Rica from 1990 to 1994. He was the presidential candidate of the Social Christian Unity Party for the national elections held in February 2010, but resigned his candida ...
the Coalition's candidate in the
1982 general election suffered a debacle gaining only 33% of the votes and PLN obtaining a
landslide victory. Even though, Unity remained as the second political force.
On December 17, 1983, the four parties merged in the Social Christian Unity Party, not without certain controversy especially among certain factions in the Democratic Renovation. Costa Rica's law required for every party in the coalition to merge in order to be valid and also to be able of receiving the so call “political debt” (State's contribution to parties after the election proportional to their electoral support). After a series of complex sessions, Democratic Renovation's National Assembly finally agree by a slight majority to merge and PUSC was born and Costa Rica passed from a
dominant-party system into a
two-party system
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually refe ...
with PLN and PUSC as main political forces.
PUSC’ first primary was held on February 27, 1989. Calderón Fournier faces
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría (born 9 January 1940) is a Costa Rican economist, lawyer, businessman and politician who served as President of Costa Rica from 1998 to 2002. He was minister of planning from 1968 to 1970 and minister of ...
Calderón winning with 75% of the votes. Calderón, as son of
Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia
Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (March 8, 1900 – June 9, 1970) was a Costa Rican medical doctor and politician, who served as President from 1940 to 1944.
Early life
Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia was born on 8 March 1900 in San José. In his ...
, the historical leader of Calderonism and the
social reform
A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...
s of the 40s,
was seen as the most representative leader of PUSC, while Rodríguez came from the liberal faction inside the party. This division between liberals and calderonistas was going to survive for the rest of the Party's history.
In the
1990 election following that primary Calderón won over PLN's candidate Carlos Manuel Castillo. A second primary was held on June 1993 between Rodríguez and Juan José Trejos (son of former president
José Joaquín Trejos), this time Rodríguez turned victorious with 75% but lost to PLN's candidate
José María Figueres in
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
.
With Rodríguez as candidate the party did won both Presidency and parliamentary majority in the
1998 election, this time without the need for primaries.
Next primary was held on June 10, 2001 between then deputy and TV personality Dr.
Abel Pacheco de la Espriella and former minister Rodolfo Mendez Mata. Even though Mata was endorsed by Calderón, Pacheco won the primary with 76% of the votes. Pacheco won the
2002 election over PLN's candidate
Rolando Araya
Rolando Araya Monge (born 20 August 1947) is a Costa Rican politician. He is a nephew of former president Luis Alberto Monge.
Biography
Rolando Araya went to school in Palmares, the place he was born, and at the Lincoln Park High School, M ...
making it the first time a party other than PLN kept in power by two consecutive terms since 1948.
Corruption scandals
In 2004-2005 a series of corruption scandals involved three former presidents of Costa Rica;
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (born 14 March 1949) was President of Costa Rica from 1990 to 1994. He was the presidential candidate of the Social Christian Unity Party for the national elections held in February 2010, but resigned his candida ...
,
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría
-->
Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to:
Places
*Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands
* São Miguel (disamb ...
and
José María Figueres Olsen
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...
. All of them suspects of bribery and enticement. They were accused of receiving money in exchange for guaranteeing very profitable contracts between private companies
Alcatel Alcatel may refer to:
* Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia
* Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...
and
Fischel with State's corporations. The scandals even caused Calderón and Rodríguez to be arrested, prosecuted and in Calderón's case condemned, while Figueres wasn’t arrested as he was in a non-extraditable country. Rodríguez was acquitted on a technicality.
Results after the scandals
The party's candidate in
2006 right after the scandals was Pacheco's
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 i ...
Ricardo Toledo. Toledo received only 3% of the votes, an unthinkable result for what was once one of Costa Rica's main parties. Anti-corruption party
Citizens Action saw an increase in its support receiving almost as many votes as PLN and replacing PUSC as PLN's main rival. PUSC also passed from 17 to 5 seats after the
2006 parliamentary election and from 58 to 9 mayors in that year's
municipal election
In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...
.
In
2010 the party's nominee was former
Vice President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
Luis Fishman. Fishman was the first
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
presidential candidate in Costa Rica's history and gained 5% of the votes keeping the 5 seats.
In 2013 Calderón suggested Dr. Rodolfo Hernández, then director of Costa Rica's Children's Hospital, as
2014's presidential nominee. Hernández faces former minister in Miguel Ángel Rodríguez’ cabinet
Rodolfo Piza in the 2013 party primary showing, again, the traditional fight between the Calderonist and Liberal factions (the liberals having control over the National Committee). Also, as usual for a victorious candidate in PUSC's primaries, Hernández won with 75% of the votes.
Hernández received very good support and for a while was the second most popular candidate after PLN's
Johnny Araya. Yet Hernández resigns as candidate on October 3, 2013 alleging constant backstabbing and treacheries from PUSC's authorities, so the party's nomination was taken by
Rodolfo Piza. Piza obtained only 6% of the vote (as slight improvement) and was the fifth candidate in popular vote, but most notable was PUSC's increase in the parliamentary vote becoming the fourth most voted party surpassing
Libertarian Movement (till then normally the third-largest party since 2006) and increasing its legislative caucus from six to eight seats.
In 2015 Calderón and his followers left the party and founded a new one called
Social Christian Republican Party (an allusion to Calderón's father
historical party). Nevertheless, PUSC saw a victory in the
2016 municipal election gaining second place in municipal votes surpassing ruling PAC and receiving much more votes than Calderón's new party. PUSC obtained 15 mayors (second in number after PLN) and saw an increase in its electoral support, unlike PLN that although the more voted party did saw a decrease in support.
In 2016, the PUSC declared themselves in favor of equal rights for
same-sex couples
A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...
in terms of marital property, insurance with the
Costa Rican Social Security Fund
The Costa Rican Social Security Fund ( es, Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social) is in charge of most of the nation's public health sector. Its role in public health (as the administrator of health institutions) is key in Costa Rica, playing an im ...
(CCSS) and death inheritance, while still not supporting
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 ...
.
Electoral performance
Presidential
Parliamentary
References
External links
Official Website
{{Authority control
Christian democratic parties in North America
Political parties in Costa Rica