Authentic Radical Liberal Party

The Authentic Radical Liberal Party (Spanish: Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico or PLRA) is a centre-left liberal and radical political party in Paraguay. The party is a full member of Liberal International. The liberales, as they are known, are the leading opposition to the dominant conservative Colorado Party. They have taken this position since the end of the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship in 1989. They are the political successors of the Liberal Party, which traces its history back to 10 July 1887.

Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico
PresidentEfraín Alegre
Founded1978
Split fromLiberal Party
Radical Liberal Party
HeadquartersIturbe 936 c/ Manuel Domínguez, Asunción
Membership (2022)1,548,023[1]
IdeologyLiberalism[2]
Progressivism[3]
Political positionCentre-left[4][5]
National affiliationConcertación
International affiliationLiberal International[6]
Chamber of Deputies
17 / 80
Senate
13 / 45
Governors
3 / 17
Party flag
Website
www.plra.org.py

The party was formed by Domingo Laíno, Carmen Casco de Lara Castro, Carlos Alberto González, Miguel Ángel Martínez Yaryes, and others in 1978, in opposition to the Constitutional Amendment of 1977 which imposed no term limits to the re-election of the Paraguayan president.[7] The PLRA remained officially unrecognized from its foundation in 1978 until the overthrow of Alfredo Stroessner. During this time, PLRA activists suffered continual harassment.[8]

In the presidential elections of 2008, the party achieved victory over the Colorado Party for the first time in 61 years through a political alliance headed by leftist Fernando Lugo and composed by other left-wing political parties. At the 2008 legislative elections, the party won 26 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 14 seats in the Senate. They were approximately tied with the Colorados in the number of seats won in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Following the June 2012 impeachment of Fernando Lugo, which the PLRA spearheaded,[9] the governing alliance fell apart, and Vice-President Federico Franco took over the presidency, thus exercising the first all-PLRA government in Paraguay. The PLRA has remained in opposition since 2013. As one of Paraguay’s two traditional parties, the PLRA is notable for its lack of a clear political program, which is a reflection of its division into personalist factions, dominated by networks of national and local caudillos.[9]

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election Party candidate Votes % Result
1989 Domingo Laíno 241,829 20.98% Lost Red XN
1993 357,164 33.20% Lost Red XN
1998[a] 703,379 43.88% Lost Red XN
2003 Julio César Franco 370,348 24.7% Lost Red XN
2008[b] Supported Fernando Lugo (PDC) 766,502 42.40% Elected Green tickY
2013[c] Efraín Alegre 889,451 39.05% Lost Red XN
2018[d] 1,110,464 45.08% Lost Red XN
2023[e] 830,842 28.25% Lost Red XN

Vice presidential election

Election Party candidate Votes % Result
2000 Julio César Franco 597,431 49.6% Elected Green tickY

Chamber of Deputies elections

Election Votes % Seats +/–
1989 229,329 20.2%
21 / 72
Increase 21
1993 414,208 36.8%
33 / 80
Increase 12
1998[a] 681,917 42.8%
35 / 80
Decrease 7
2003 379,066 25.7%
21 / 80
Decrease 14
2008 500,040 28.27%
27 / 80
Increase 6
2013 656,301 29.25%
27 / 80
Steady
2018 420,821 17.74%
17 / 80
Decrease 10
2023[lower-alpha 1] 779,282 27.46%
23 / 80
Increase 6

Senate elections

Election Votes % Seats +/–
1993 409,728 36.2%
17 / 45
Increase 17
1998[a] 661,764 42.1%
20 / 45
Decrease 5
2003 374,854 25.4%
12 / 45
Decrease 8
2008 507,413 28.92%
14 / 45
Increase 2
2013 588,054 26.17%
13 / 45
Decrease 1
2018 570,205 24.18%
13 / 45
Steady
2023 701,547 24.35%
12 / 45
Decrease 1

Notes

a PLRA contested the 1998 elections as a member of the Democratic Alliance electoral coalition along with the National Encounter Party.

b PLRA contested the 2008 elections as a member of the Patriotic Alliance for Change electoral coalition along with the Febrerista Revolutionary Party, the National Encounter Party, the Party for a Country of Solidarity, the Christian Democratic Party, and the Progressive Democratic Party, among others.

c PLRA contested the 2013 elections as a member of the Paraguay Alegre electoral coalition along with the Progressive Democratic Party and the National Encounter Party, among others.

d PLRA contested the 2018 elections as a member of the Great Renewed National Alliance electoral coalition along with the Revolutionary Febrerista Party, the Progressive Democratic Party, and the Guasú Front, among others.

e PLRA contested the 2023 elections as a member of the Concertación electoral coalition along with the Guasú Front, the Beloved Fatherland Party, the National Encounter Party, the Hagamos Party, the Progressive Democratic Party, the Revolutionary Febrerista Party, and the Christian Democratic Party, among others.

References

  1. "PLRA supera los 1,5 millones de afiliados - Política - ABC Color".
  2. https://reformaspoliticas.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Estatuto-PLRA.pdf/
  3. https://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/plra-apunta-a-movimiento-progresista-1307891.html/
  4. SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online
  5. "Piden definición ideológica del PLRA". abc.com.py (in Spanish). 16 August 2012.
  6. "List of full members". Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2016., Liberal International, www.liberal-international.org.
  7. Silva, Tamy Amorim da (2016). Memórias sobre uma Dama Valente: Carmen de Lara Castro e a Ditadura Stronista (1967–1989) [Memories of a valiant woman: Carmen de Lara Castro and the Stronista Dictatorship (1967-1989)] (PDF) (master's degree) (in Portuguese). Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. p. 169. Retrieved 8 September 2017.
  8. Nickson, Andrew (2015). Historical Dictionary of Paraguay. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 461.
  9. Nickson 2015, pp. 461.

See also

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