Social Christian Party
Partido Social Cristiano |
|
---|---|
President | Pascual del Cioppo |
Founder |
Camilo Ponce Enríquez Sixto Durán Ballén |
Founded | 1951 |
Ideology |
Christian democracy Conservatism |
Political position | Centre-right to Right-wing |
International affiliation | International Democrat Union |
Regional affiliation | Union of Latin American Parties |
Colors | Gold, red |
Seats in the National Assembly |
15 / 137
|
Website | |
http://www.la6.ec/ | |
The Social Christian Party (Spanish: Partido Social Cristiano; PSC) is a center-right political party in Ecuador.
The party was founded in 1951 under the name of Social Christian Movement (Movimiento Social Cristiano) by Camilo Ponce Enríquez, who was Ecuador's president from 1956 to 1960, and Sixto Durán Ballén. It was initially focused on Quito. Since the 1980s, however, the party's popularity is greatest on the coastal areas, particularly around Ecuador's economic center and most populous city, Guayaquil, and in coastal provinces, such as Guayas, El Oro, Los Rios, and Manabi, which constitute about half of the country's population. However, as a sign of deep regional divide on politics, the party has little power in the Andean region. Thus, while holding all major positions in Guayas and Guayaquil, the PSC has not held the presidential office since the presidency of León Febres Cordero (1984–88).
In 1979, the party's centrist and leftist wing split off to form the centre-left Popular Democracy party under Osvaldo Hurtado, who was the country's president from 1981 to 1984. After Febres' faction inside the PSC succeeded in appointing Jaime Nebot as the party's presidential candidate, Sixto Durán Ballén and his supporters left the party to form the more right-wing Republican Union. Eventually, Durán was elected president for the period 1992–1996. Nebot was the party's presidential candidate again in 1996. He won first place in the first round with 28% of the vote, but lost in the runoff with 46% of the vote to Abdalá Bucaram.