Popular Democratic Party
Partido Popular Democrático |
|
---|---|
President | David Bernier |
Vice President | Brenda López de Arrarás |
Senate Minority Leader | Eduardo Bhatia |
Senate Minority Whip | Jose Luis Dalmau |
Founded | July 22, 1938 |
Split from | Liberal Party |
Headquarters | Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico |
Ideology |
Social liberalism Pro-Commonwealth |
Political position | Center |
National affiliation | Democratic Party |
International affiliation | None |
Colors | Red |
Slogan | "Unidad, trabajo, prosperidad" "Unity, work, prosperity" |
Anthem | "Jalda Arriba" (Johnny Rodriguez) |
Seats in the Senate |
7 / 30
|
Seats in the House of Representatives |
16 / 51
|
Municipalities |
45 / 78
|
Website | |
ppdpr.net | |
The Popular Democratic Party —Spanish: Partido Popular Democrático (PPD)— is a political party that advocates for maintaining the current political status of Puerto Rico as that of an unincorporated territory of the United States with self-government. The party was founded in 1938 by dissidents from the Puerto Rican Liberal Party and the Unionist Party and originally promoted policies on the center-left. In recent years, however, the party leaders have described the party as being centrist.
The PPD played a significant role in the history of Puerto Rico. In the early 1950s, the party held a majority in the delegation convened to draft the Constitution of Puerto Rico. Once the constitution was ratified, the document was proclaimed by the party's leader and co-founder, Luis Muñoz Marín—who, in doing so, became the first Puerto Rican governor elected by the people of Puerto Rico. The party afterward ruled all branches of the Puerto Rican government for 36 of the past 64 years, establishing many of the institutions that permeate Puerto Rican society today.
Today, the party is one of the two major parties in Puerto Rico with significant political strength. It holds more than half of the seats of mayors in the municipalities of Puerto Rico and minorities in the Senate and the House. Its last governor was Alejandro García Padilla who governed the island from 2013–2017 under a government trifecta.