Partido Social Cristiano
The Partido Social Cristiano ( PSC ), in German Social Christian Party , is a political party in Ecuador . He can be classified in the right-wing party spectrum of the country and has his most significant support in the coastal provinces of Guayas , Manabí and Los Ríos . With Camilo Ponce Enríquez (1956–60) and León Febres Cordero (1984–88), he has twice served as president . Since Ecuador's return to democracy (1978/9), he has provided most of the parliamentarians in the National Congress . Its chairman is Pascual del Cioppo.
history
In the history of the party, two major periods can be subdivided: The “Era Ponce Enríquez” and the “Era Febres Cordero - Nebot”, in each of which the named party leaders dominated the organizational structure and political orientation of the party. The regional distribution of the electorate is also different in the two periods: in the Ponce era, the PSC was mainly elected in the Andean region around the capital Quito , in the Febres Cordero - Nebot era, the coastal region, and in particular the port city of Guayaquil , became the largest city in Ecuador , to the stronghold.
The "Ponce Enríquez Era"
The party was founded in 1951 with the name "Movimiento Social Cristiano" (MSC; German Social Christian Movement ). The key figure and first chairman of the new party was the lawyer Camilo Ponce Enríquez. The political movement at that time consisted of a relatively small circle of young representatives of the bourgeois upper class of the capital Quito, who were Christian-conservative oriented, but a more modern political alternative to the traditionalist-clerical Partido Conservador , the dominant party of the political right and in particular for decades the conservative landowners of the Andean region wanted to create. The new party positioned itself as being more oriented towards the ideas of Christian social teaching and Christian democracy. It was striving for a "third way" between the Cold War poles, which also dominated Ecuador, communism and free capitalism, which, however, was closer to the USA than to the Soviet Union.
Despite its more social approach, the MSC was an elite-oriented party rooted in the upper class of the Andean region during this period. It was geared towards its leader Ponce and, both internally and in its program, as elitist as it was conservative, and has therefore not been called democratic in the literal sense of the word. It consisted of an elite circle, had only a few members and was not connected to the broader society of Ecuador, but did not strive to do so. In addition to the dominant political forces of the 1950s, the Liberal and Conservative Parties and the organized supporters of the populist José María Velasco Ibarra , the supporters of the MSC looked small and was essentially limited to Quito.
In the presidential elections in 1956, however, the charismatic party leader Ponce succeeded as a candidate for a broad alliance of right-wing parties called Alianza Popular, in which, in addition to the MSC, the Partido Conservador, the Acción Revolucionaria Nacionalista Ecuatoriana (ARNE) and some of the supporters Velasco Ibarras were banded together to surprisingly win the presidency. Ponce was the first right-wing political candidate to be elected president in the 20th century. Before that, liberals or populists (especially Velasco Ibarra) had always held office. Ponce had the support of Velasco Ibarra, as he had been foreign minister during his second presidency (1944-47) and interior minister during most of the third presidency (1952-56).
Among other things, because Ponce criticized the legacy of his predecessor Velasco Ibarras, this soon went into resolute opposition to the president. Ponce's presidency itself was remembered above all for a high level of infrastructure measures, particularly in Quito and Guayaquil, some of which were taken in preparation for the 11th Pan-American Conference , which never took place. Among other things, the presidential palace and the building of the National Congress were renovated, the airports in Quito and Guayaquil were modernized or reopened, a new bridge over the Río Guayas and a modern football stadium (the Estadio Modelo ) in Guayaquil were built, and important roads were renovated and rebuilt .
In the 1960 elections, Ponce lost to his predecessor Velasco Ibarra, who also became his successor. During his presidency there was another military coup and a two-year military dictatorship (1963-1966) against which Ponce and his party were in opposition. After a new constitution was passed in 1966, the MSC registered with the newly established Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) in 1967 under its current name “Partido Social Cristiano”. Camilo Ponce largely withdrew from political life after the 1968 election, which was again lost to Velasco Ibarra.
Sixto Durán Ballén , who was mayor of Quito from 1970 to 1978 , became a new leader . He was a member of the founding circle of the party and after 1956 was Minister of Public Works under Ponce. In the first free elections after the new military dictatorship (1972-1978 / 79) Durán Ballén leading candidate was a center-right alliance of eleven parties ( "Frente Nacional Constitucionalista", dt. About National Front of the Constitution trailer ) on the presidential election in 1978. He was defeated after a hard-fought election campaign the left-wing populist candidate Jaime Roldós narrowly in the second ballot, which was not held until 1979.
At the same time, the party grew into a new leader with León Febres Cordero, who joined in 1978.
The "Era Febres Cordero - Nebot"
León Febres Cordero was a major entrepreneur in the port city of Guayaquil when he joined. He comes from a rich and influential long-established family and at the time was general manager of the banana magnate Luis Noboa Naranjo . Under the leadership of Febres Cordero, the social support group, political and regional orientation and organization of the party slowly changed.
Febres Cordero, a typical political career changer, presented himself in the presidential election campaign in 1984, which he won, as a modern, efficient entrepreneur who wanted to transfer the principles of successful management to politics.
He changed the image of the PSC away from the traditionalist confessional party to a “business party”, which on the one hand wants to govern according to business efficiency criteria in a “modern way” and, on the other hand, particularly represents the interests of the more internationally oriented business world in the coastal region. During his presidency, the position of the private sector was strengthened - also through the appointment of independent ministers from one environment and with repeated attempts to restrict and eliminate the legislature dominated by opposition parties. His economic policy was less strongly state interventionist than that of his predecessors Jaime Roldós and Osvaldo Hurtado and, particularly with regard to foreign debts and investments, came closer to the USA. His government has been labeled "Thcherist" and found a similarly oriented supporter in Ronald Reagan . Since then, the image of the PSC has solidified as that of a more “ neoliberal ”, private-sector- friendly party advocating decentralization and deregulation . The supporting layer changed bit by bit from the traditional Christian leadership of the Sierra to the equally elitist entrepreneurship of the coastal region. This tendency intensified under the party chairmanship of Jaime Nebots since 1990. In 1991, large parts of the representatives of the Andean region resigned from the party after it became clear that Sixto Durán Ballén would not be nominated again as a presidential candidate, and founded their own party, the Partido de Unidad Republicana (German Party of Republican Unity ), for which Durán Ballén ran in the 1992 elections and won in the second ballot against Nebot.
Nebot wanted to turn the PSC into a people 's party on a European scale and organize it systematically throughout the country. For this purpose, a comprehensive organizational structure was developed from the existing basic organizations “family committees”. Today, however, this is de facto based in particular on a systematic networking of local management personalities. The PSC is not a people's party in the strict sense of the word, even if a leading member stated that it had 700,000 members in 1998, 550,000 of whom are said to have been active. The decisions are still made by a small circle of party leaders around Febres Cordero, Nebot and the new party leader, del Cioppo, who was elected in 1999. Since Nebot was re-elected as Mayor of Guayaquil in 2004, there has been an increasing divergence in power politics between Nebot and Febres Cordero, which culminated in the expulsion of former presidential candidate Xavier Neira, a confidante of Febres Cordero, in October 2006. In January 2007, Febres Cordero renounced his parliamentary mandate for health reasons; In his place, the substitute member Dimitri Durán moved into the National Congress.
Since the 1990s, the PSC has been able to significantly strengthen its awareness and electorate, especially in the lower classes of the country's largest city, Guayaquil. The party has provided the mayor here since 1992, initially in León Febres Cordero until 2000, and since then in Jaime Nebot.
On the one hand, populist-oriented ad hoc measures such as party-sponsored mobile medical teams for the slums and suburbs of Guayaquil contributed to the improved image. On the other hand, the policy of revitalization, renovation and structural beautification of the city center, the old harbor embankment (“Malecón 2000”) and other urban areas were welcomed by the PSC mayors. With it, the mayors, with the involvement of financial backers from the entrepreneurship, pursued an improvement in the image of the metropolis, which was formerly regarded as a dangerous and dirty industrial city, which has largely succeeded.
The election results of the recent elections also show that the PSC has its greatest voter potential in the province of Guayas and the coastal region, but is also present in the other provinces and also has provincial prefects, mayors and members of parliament in provinces in the Andean highlands and the Amazon lowlands even if other parties like the Izquierda Democrática , the indigenous movement Pachakutik and the Partido Sociedad Patriótica attract far larger groups of voters. In the 2006 elections, the party lost part of its supremacy in the coastal region to the PRIAN , the party of billionaire Álvaro Noboa . In the 2009 elections, the PSC did not put up its own presidential candidate. In the province of Guayas he entered into an electoral alliance with the new Madera de Guerrero party of Jimmy Jairala , who was elected prefect and prevailed against Pierina Correa , the sister of the Ecuadorian president. Nebot was re-elected as mayor of Guayaquil and the alliance of PSC and Madera de Guerrero became the third largest parliamentary group in the new National Assembly with 11 members.
organization
The highest organ of the party is the National Assembly ( Asamblea Nacional ), which usually takes place every two years . It elects the party chairman and the members of the presidium. It also formally nominates the presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the presidential elections. The statutes of the party are also adopted here. The National Assembly is mainly composed of representatives from the Presidium and several hundred delegates from the Provincial Assemblies. There are cantonal assemblies below the provincial assemblies. Provincial and cantonal assemblies have similar tasks to the national assembly at a lower level.
Between the national assemblies, the National Plenary Council ( Consejo Plenario Nacional ) takes place, in which the members of the party presidency, the ex-presidents and ex-vice-presidents of Ecuador appointed by the PSC, as well as the former party leaders, the party leaders at the provincial level and some delegates from the provinces are members , important advisory functions true.
The actual governing body is the Presidium, the Directiva Nacional . It consists of the party chairman (since 1999 Pascual del Cioppo), the deputy chairman, the general secretary, the treasurer, six other members, ex-presidents of Ecuador who belong to the party, all former chairmen of the party and members who are not entitled to vote, such as the chairmen of the internal party courts , the Chairman of the Congress Group, and others. In addition to day-to-day political business, the Presidium is also responsible for drawing up and final approval of the lists of candidates for all elections except for those of the President.
The party has a youth organization, the Juventudes del Partido Social Cristiano , whose chairman is a non-voting member of the party's presidium.
Chair since 1978
All party leaders since the reintroduction of democracy and the re-entry of the PSC in the party register on April 27, 1978 are given:
- April to November 1978: Luis Ponce Palacios
- November 1978 to February 1979: Marcos Lara Guzmán.
- February 1979 to August 1980: Jorge Haz Villagómez (acting)
- 1980–1988: Camilo Ponce Gangotena (son of the party founder), temporarily Eduardo Carmignani
- 1988–1990: Marco Lara Guzmán
- 1990-1991: Jaime Nebot
- 1991-1992: Camilo Ponce Gangotena
- 1993: Eduardo Paz (acting)
- 1994–1997: Jaime Nebot
- 1997/98: César Acosta
- since 1999: Pascual del Cioppo
Election results
Presidential candidate 1978-2006
- 1978/79: Sixto Durán Ballén : defeated Jaime Roldós ( CFP / DP ) in the second ballot with 31.5% of the vote
- 1984: León Febres Cordero : victorious against Rodrigo Borja ( ID ) with 51.5% of the vote in the second ballot . Febres Cordero was nominated by a multi-party alliance called the "Front des National Reconstruction", which included the PSC, the Liberal and Conservative parties , supporters of the deceased Velasco Ibarra and other right-wing parties.
- 1988: Sixto Durán Ballén: with 14.7% of the votes in the first ballot, third place behind Rodrigo Borja (ID) and Abdalá Bucaram ( PRE ); not in the second ballot
- 1992: Jaime Nebot : defeated Sixto Durán Ballén ( PUR ) in the second ballot with 42.7% of the vote
- 1996: Jaime Nebot: defeated Abdalá Bucaram (PRE) in the second ballot with 45.5% of the vote
- 1998: no own candidacy; Supported the candidacy of the victorious Democracia Popular candidate , Jamil Mahuad
- 2002: Xavier Neira , fifth in the first ballot with 12.1% of the vote, not in the second ballot
- 2006 : Cynthia Viteri , fifth in the first ballot with 9.6% of the vote.
- 2009: no own candidate
Last election results (2002–2009)
Presidential election
In the 2002 presidential elections, PSC candidate Xavier Neira received 12.1 percent of the vote, finishing fifth behind Lucio Gutiérrez (PSP), Álvaro Noboa (PRIAN), León Roldós ( Movimiento Ciudadano Nuevo País (independent)), and Rodrigo Borja ( ID ). In the 2006 elections, the candidate Cynthia Viteri received 9.6 percent of the vote and took fifth place behind Alvaro Noboa (PRIAN), Rafael Correa ( Movimiento PAÍS / PS-FA ), Gilmar Gutiérrez (PSP) and León Roldós ( RED / ID )
Parliamentary elections
In the elections to the National Congress in 2002, the party received a total of 25.6 percent of the vote. In the populous stronghold of the party, the province of Guayas , the PSC candidates received 42.5 percent of the vote, in the province of Pichincha , the most important in the Andean region, only 5.1%. In the 2003-2007 legislative period, the PSC thus formed the strongest group in the National Congress with initially 26, and in August 2006 after resignations (including by being enrolled in candidate lists for the next election) 23 members.
In the 2006 National Congress elections, the number of elected representatives of the PSC decreased to 13. In all the provinces of the coastal region, the PSC was surpassed by the PRIAN , the party of the wealthy businessman Álvaro Noboa, who also replaced the PSC as the strongest party in the National Congress. Of the 13 MPs, five were elected in Guayas Province and one each in Azuay, Cotopaxi, El Oro, Galápagos, Loja, Manabí, Pichincha and Tungurahua. The MP for the Galápagos, Alfredo Serrano, will be the longest-serving MP in the new parliament. In addition, ex-President Febres Cordero, party leader del Cioppo and Soledad Diab, Miss Ecuador in 1992, were elected to parliament. Febres Cordero did not take office for health reasons and was replaced by his substitute member.
In the wake of the political crisis at the beginning of 2007 about the calling of a referendum on a new constituent assembly , in the course of which MPs of the PSC voted for the removal of the chairman of the Supreme Electoral Court, the MPs of the PSC as well as most members of the other political groups voting in favor of the measure became declared dismissed by the electoral court due to obstruction of an ongoing electoral process. After the term of office of the judges of the Constitutional Court, which had declared the deposition of the deputies to be invalid, was also ended in connection with this matter and had already been declared invalid, the deposition remained de facto valid. The homepage of the National Congress therefore showed only three MPs formally belonging to the PSC in June 2007, the other substitute MPs were listed as non-attached.
In the 2009 elections, the PSC, together with Madera de Guerrero, won 11 of the 130 seats in the new National Assembly and thus constituted the third largest parliamentary group.
Regional and local elections
After the regional and local elections of 2004, the PSC provided the prefects of the provinces of Guayas and Manabi, the prefectess of the province of Napo and the mayors of the capitals of 56 of the country's 219 cantons, as well as eight more according to electoral alliances with other parties. Among the cities ruled by the PSC are the provincial capitals Guayaquil (Guayas), Machala ( El Oro ), Babahoyo (Los Ríos), Portoviejo (Manabi), Zamora ( Zamora Chinchipe , in electoral alliance with ID) and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno (Galápagos) as well six of the ten largest cities in the country: Guayaquil, Santo Domingo de los Colorados , Machala, Durán , Manta and Portoviejo.
Remarks
- ↑ Freidenberg / Alcántara Sáez (2001), p. 32f., With reference to a party member who remained anonymous during the early days
- ↑ Anonymously reproduced statement in Freidenberg / Alcántara Sáez (2001), p. 76, which, however, rate it as clearly too high
- ↑ Neira had previously had his permanent visitor visa for the USA withdrawn after he was classified as an in-house officer of a law firm as a possible participant in a possible corruption case involving the marketing of Viagra in Ecuador. For exclusion from the party, see Nancy Verdezoto, Febres Cordero se queda sin aliados y Nebot cobra fuerzas en el PSC ( Memento of the original of February 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Ciudadanía Informada, November 8, 2006.
- ↑ PSC: "PSC Una furza política que se mantiene vigente", self-description of the party history on the website of the youth organization, under archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved on August 27, 2006, and Freidenberg / Alcántara Sáez (2001), Appendix 1.
- ↑ The MPs were elected at the provincial level with majority voting. Therefore, the percentage of the total number of votes at national level has no direct influence on the allocation of parliamentary seats. Number taken from Pachano (2005), p. 34.
- ↑ According to the official election results on the homepage of the Supreme Electoral Court of Ecuador, archived copy ( memento of the original from December 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ see Congreso Nacional. Diputados por Partidos Políticos. PSC ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on June 10, 2007. For the entire institutional crisis, see references under Rafael Correa # Dealing with the National Congress
- ↑ Determined after the election results report of the Supreme Electoral Court to the National Congress: Informe del Tribunal Supremo Electoral al Congreso Nacional 2004, Quito 2005, Chapter 9: Resultados Electorales, online under Archived Copy ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: Der Archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. or archived copy ( memento of the original from April 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 27, 2006
Web links
literature
- Flavia Freidenberg and Manuel Alcántara Sáez: Los dueños del poder. Los partidos políticos en Ecuador (1978-2000) , Quito: FLACSO, 2001, ISBN 9978-67-066-1 , pp. 29-82 (“Partido Social Cristiano”).
- Simón Pachano: “El territorio de los partidos. Ecuador, 1979-2002 “, in: La Gobernabilidad en América Latina: Balance reciente y tendencias a futuro. Lot 43 aportes más representativos de las unidades académicas de la FLACSO en el 2004 , Quito: FLACSO, 2005 (CD-ROM), online at http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/ar/libros/ecuador/flacso/pachano .pdf .