The Independent Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Independiente - PLI) is a Nicaraguan political party, which separated from

Somoza The Somoza family ( es, Familia Somoza) is a former political family that ruled Nicaragua for forty-three years from 1936 to 1979. Their family dictatorship was founded by Anastasio Somoza García and was continued by his two sons Luis Somoza D ...

Nationalist Liberal Party The Nationalist Liberal Party ( es, Partido Liberal Nacionalista, PLN) was a political party in Nicaragua. When Anastasio Somoza García took power in 1936, the party aligned itself with the United States and other caudillos in Latin America, li ...

(PLN) in 1944 and took part in the probably fraudulent election of 1947, won by Somoza's favored candidate. The PLI participated in the 1984 election, winning 9.6% of vote for President with its candidate

Virgilio Godoy Virgilio Abelardo Godoy Reyes (1 May 1934 in León – 17 November 2016 in Managua) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as the vice president of his respective Central American nation from 25 April 1990 until he resigned in October 1995 to run ...

. In 1990 it was part of the

National Opposition Union National Opposition Union ( es, Unión Nacional Opositora, UNO) was a Nicaraguan wide-range coalition of opposition parties formed to oppose president Daniel Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in the 1990 election. Its can ...

(UNO) - a broad alliance of

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto C� ...

regime opponents - with Virgilio Godoy running as the vice-presidential candidate. UNO won the

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...

with 54% of the vote. The UNO alliance split in 1993, and in the 1996 elections the PLI, under the candidature of

, suffered its worst electoral debacle, receiving only 0.32% of the vote. It joined with

Enrique Bolaños Enrique José Bolaños Geyer (; 13 May 1928 – 14 June 2021) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 10 January 2002 to 10 January 2007. From 1997 to 2002, Bolaños served as vice president under Arnoldo Alem� ...

' PLC for the 2001 elections, and was part of Montealegre's

Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance The Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance ( – ALN) is a political coalition in Nicaragua. It was started in 2005 by Eduardo Montealegre and other members of the Constitutional Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista – PLC) who opposed former P ...

in the 2006 elections. During the 2011 presidential election, the party participated as part of an alliance against the ruling FSLN that also included the ''Movimiento vamos con Eduardo'', a faction led by former PLC member

Eduardo Montealegre Eduardo Montealegre Rivas (born 9 May 1955) is a Nicaraguan politician. He ran for president in the 2006 general election as the candidate of the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN-PC) a split-off of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) in allia ...

, the

Sandinista Renovation Movement The Sandinista Renovation Movement (''Movimiento Renovador Sandinista'' or MRS, in Spanish) is a Nicaraguan political party founded on 21 May 1995. It defines itself as a democratic and progressive party, made of women and men, which promotes the ...

, PAC, ''Partido Multiétnico por la Unidad Costeña'', dissident Conservatives, Sociedad Civil and independents. The candidate for presidency was the veteran journalist and writer

Fabio Gadea Mantilla Fabio Gadea Mantilla (born November 9, 1931 in Ocotal, Nueva Segovia) is a Nicaraguan radio journalist, writer, and politician. He is owner and co-founder of the news radio station Radio Corporación. He also represents Nicaragua as deputy ...

. The election was eventually won by incumbent president

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the ...

with Gadea finishing second. After many years of infighting between different factions, and five months before the 2016 general election, the Nicaraguan Supreme Electoral Court removed disputed PLI leader Eduardo Montealegre, replacing him with Pedro Reyes. Reyes, a little known figure in Nicaraguan politics, despite having been the PLI vice-presidential candidate in 1996 and PLI Secretary General from 1995-2005, was elected vice-president of the PLI, behind

Rollin Tobie Rollin or Rollin' may refer to: Music Albums * ''Rollin (Bay City Rollers album), 1974 * ''Rollin (Freddie Hubbard album), 1982 * ''Rollin (Texas Hippie Coalition album) or the title song, 2010 * ''Rollin (B1A4 EP) or the title song, 2017 * ' ...

, in February 2011 at a disputed party convention, and claimed the presidency after Tobie's death in November 2011. After PLI and allied

deputies objected, Nicaragua's Supreme Electoral Council ordered them removed from the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

and empowered Reyes to select their replacements.

References

{{Nicaraguan political parties 1947 establishments in Nicaragua Liberal parties in Nicaragua Organizations of the Nicaraguan Revolution Political parties established in 1947 Political parties in Nicaragua

See also

References