Partido Liberacion National
Partido Liberación Nacional ( PLN ; German 'Party of National Liberation') is a political party in Costa Rica .
The party colors are green and white. The party's headquarters are in the capital, San José . The party is a member of the Socialist International organization .
story
The party was founded by José Figueres Ferrer in 1951 after the end of the civil war in Costa Rica . Its predecessors were the Partido (Social) Demócrata and the paramilitary Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN; "National Liberation Army"). The civil war was not primarily an ideological conflict, but a struggle between Figueres' supporters (mainly middle class, small businessmen and intellectuals) against the camp of populist ex-president Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia , who was supported by both the Catholic Church and the communists was supported. Both Figueres and Calderón were charismatic leaders known as caudilloscan be designated. Figueres was a staunch anti-communist and took action against trade unions. On the other hand, like Calderón before him, he pushed ahead with welfare state reforms that benefited the workforce, nationalized banks and promoted small and medium-sized enterprises. He introduced voting rights for women and for Afro-Costa Ricans. He also abolished the military, making Costa Rica one of the few nation states in the world without its own armed forces. The PLN was then also strongly geared towards Figueres as a person. He led them until 1978. The ideology he founded is known as Liberacionismo or Figuerismo .
In the decades that followed, it was one of the most important parties in the country. With the camp of the Calderonistas , which appeared under changing party names , it formed a de facto two- party system . Both took turns in power until the Calderonist Partido de Unidad Socialcristiana (PUSC) collapsed in the 2006 election and has not recovered since. The PLN candidates have won nine of the 15 presidential elections since its establishment. In addition to party founder José Figueres Ferrer, its prominent politicians include Nobel Peace Prize winner and President Óscar Arias , who was succeeded in 2010 by his party colleague Laura Chinchilla after winning the presidential elections.
In 2002, the party lost the parliamentary elections for the Asamblea Legislativa de Costa Rica , receiving only 27.1 percent of the vote and only 17 out of 57 seats in parliament. In the simultaneous presidential elections, PLN candidate Rolando Araya Monge was unable to prevail against PUSC candidate Abel Pacheco with 31 percent .
In the parliamentary elections on February 5, 2006, the PLN won 25 out of 57 seats in parliament. In the presidential elections taking place at the same time, the PLN candidate Óscar Arias prevailed.
In the February 2010 elections, the PLN candidate Laura Chinchilla won, making her the first female president of Costa Rica. The party nominated San José Mayor Johnny Araya Monge for the 2014 presidential election.
Even though the PLN has belonged to the Socialist International since 1987 and sees itself as part of the social-democratic family of parties, it represents conservative positions on some socio-political issues. For example, former President Chinchilla campaigned on law-and-order issues in 2010. She also rejected same-sex marriage , abortion and the morning- after pill and campaigned for Costa Rica to be the only country in Latin America to keep Catholicism as the state religion. Some observers now place the PLN more to the right of center on the political spectrum.
web links
itemizations
- ↑ Socialist International: List of Members
- ↑ Lynn V. Foster, A Brief History of Central America. 2nd Edition. Facts on File, New York 2007, p. 214.
- ↑ Foster, A Brief History of Central America. 2007, p. 215.
- ↑ David Díaz Arias: Caudillismo, memoria y poder en Costa Rica. El caso de Jose Figueres, 1940-1990. Escuela de Historia, University of Costa Rica, 2010.
- ↑ New York Times:Costa Rica: Female Leaders Elected
- ↑ Una mujer de ordeno y mando In: El País , February 9, 2010.
- ↑ Costa Rica to be ruled by a woman for the first time. In: Zeit Online , February 8, 2010.