The Citizens' Action Party (; commonly abbreviated as PAC) is a
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, ...
in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
.
Its platform is based on encouraging citizen participation and involvement in politics. One of its guiding ideals is to fight against corruption, arguing that it is one of the main causes of underdevelopment and voter apathy. The party took a leading role in the failed campaign against Costa Rica's membership of the
Central American Free Trade Agreement.
History and elections
Founding and 2002 election
PAC was founded in December 2000 by several dissidents from Costa Rica's two traditional parties, the
National Liberation Party and the
Social Christian Unity Party. Originally an anti-corruption party, it startled the Costa Rican political arena with a very strong showing in the
2002 general elections. In the presidential vote, party founder and candidate
Ottón Solís was able to secure 26% of the votes – an unprecedented amount for a third party in Costa Rica – and force a runoff between the PLN and PUSC.
The party won 21.9% of the popular vote and 14 out of 57 seats in the
Legislative Assembly, making it the third strongest political force in the legislature. A few months later, however, after a series of internal disputes, six of the party's 14
deputies
A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nati ...
resigned from the party, leaving PAC with only eight seats.
2006 election
In the February 5, 2006
parliamentary election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
, the party won 17 out of 57 seats. Ottón Solís ran for
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
again, losing to the PLN's
Oscar Arias Sanchez by less than 2% of the votes. Arias only won by a few thousand votes over the 40 percent threshold required to avoid a runoff. The number of
spoiled ballot
In voting, a ballot is considered spoilt (chiefly British), spoiled (chiefly American), void, null, informal, invalid, rejected or stray if a law declares or an election authority determines that it is invalid and thus not included in the vote ...
s was larger than the margin between Solís and Arias.
After the 2006 election, Ótton Solís took a year away from politics to teach in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Former PLN Secretary General
Luis Guillermo Solís' name began being circulated at meetings of the "ungroup," an informal gathering of PAC officials, led by former deputy Alberto Salom.
Several PAC officials wanted Luis Guillermo Solís to run as a deputy in
San José and as a vice presidential candidate in 2010.
Future President Luis Guillermo Solís joined the party in 2009.
and attended meetings of the "ungroup" shortly thereafter in anticipation of the 2014 election.
2010 election
In the 2010 election, Ottón Solís ran for his third and final time as president.
Laura Chinchilla
Laura Chinchilla Miranda (; born 28 March 1959) is a Costa Rican political scientist and politician who served as President of Costa Rica from 2010 to 2014. She was one of Óscar Arias Sánchez's two Vice-Presidents and his administration's ...
of the PLN won, but Ottón Solís finished with 25.2% of the votes. PAC won the second fraction in the Legislative Assembly with 11 deputies elected. Six candidates won municipal elections in the rural communities of
Aserrí, Matina, Hojancha,
Cañas, Los Chiles y Guatuso.
2014 election

In 2013, PAC held its
second national convention. It was an open convention in which any citizen could vote, despite party affiliation. Four candidates vied for the primary to represent PAC in the 2014 national elections:
Epsy Campbell Barr,
Juan Carlos Mendoza,
Luis Guillermo Solís, and
Ronald Solís Bolaños, with Luis Guillermo Solís winning 35% of the votes.
On 6 April 2014, Luis Guillermo Solís became the
president elect of Costa Rica. PAC candidates won 13 seats in the Legislative Assembly.
2018 election
The
third national convention was held between only two candidates, both former ministers on PAC's first cabinet; Minister of Economy
Welmer Ramos and Minister of Labor
Carlos Alvarado. Ramos was an economist, more socially conservative and close to the "ottonista" faction, whilst Alvarado was writer and political scientist, much more socially liberal and younger, close to the "progresista" faction. Alvarado won the primary election becoming PAC's first time candidate during government.
Despite suffering from a diminished popularity due to the ''Cementazo'' scandal affecting the image of
Luis Guillermo Solis' government, Alvarado's progressive positions boost him into the second round as a counter-reaction after the growth of
Evangelical Christian
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
singer
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
and ultra-conservative candidate
Fabricio Alvarado after the backlash against the
IACHR's ruling ordering the country to legalize
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...
, winning by a wide margin in the second round with 60% of the votes and more than 1,300,000 votes over the 39% and around 800,000 votes of his rival, becoming the second time that the party achieved more than a million votes in second round.
Platform
While cleaning up corruption has been one of PAC's main goals since its creation, Solís has added to the party's platform. He wants to build infrastructure, bolster Costa Rica's
universal health care
Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized a ...
and
social security
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
systems and push for environmentally friendly policies.
Historically, PAC has opposed free trade agreements such as
CAFTA, which Solís claims is improperly implemented. In addition, PAC claims that the country's tax system is inadequate, saying that a more progressive system is needed.
International relations
PAC is a member of the
Progressive Alliance
The Progressive Alliance (PA) is a political international of progressive and social democratic political parties and organisations founded on 22 May 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. The alliance was formed as an alternative to the existing Socia ...
. It maintains informal relations with other progressive and social democratic parties. Ottón Solís has independently met with
Ricardo Lagos
Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...
of the
Socialist Party of Chile
The Socialist Party of Chile (, or PS) is a centre-left to Left-wing politics, left-wing political party founded in 1933. Its historic leader was President of Chile Salvador Allende, who was deposed in a 1973 Chilean coup d'état, coup d'état by ...
during a visit to Costa Rica,
Cristina Fernández, and members of the
Democratic Party of the United States.
Controversies
Estafa cases
The party was affected in 2016 by a conviction for irregular handling of funds when treasurer Maynor Sterling and an official of the headquarters named Bolaños were found guilty of trying to collect from the
Supreme Elections Court for goods and services donated by adherents of the party. The conviction carried a fine of 500 million colones and jail terms for the two involved. In December 2020, the PAC resorts to requesting donations to pay the debt for fraud to the State.
Members
2010–2014 Mayors
Other notable members of PAC
Electoral performance
Presidential
Parliamentary
References
External links
Official website
{{Costa Rican political parties
2000 establishments in Costa Rica
Anti-corruption parties
Christian socialist organizations
Citizens' Action Parties
Political parties established in 2000
Political parties in Costa Rica
Progressive parties
Social democratic parties in North America