List of political parties in Costa Rica

Costa Rica

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This article lists political parties in Costa Rica. Costa Rica used to have a two-party system, which meant that there were two dominant political parties, the Social Christian Unity Party and the National Liberation Party, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party. After the 2002 elections and the strong showing of the brand-new Citizens' Action Party, it was considered very likely that the old two-party system was on the verge of giving way to a multi-party system. Several other parties have gained prominence since then, and the 2006 elections made it clear that Costa Rica is now a multi-party system.

Starting in the 2000s, disagreement about many of the neo-liberal policies promoted by the dominant PLN caused the traditional party system of alliances among a few parties to fracture.^[1] Although still a stable country, the shift toward many political parties and away from PUSC and PLN is a recent development.^[2] Various elected positions within the country, such as mayors and city council members, are held by many different national and local political parties.

Party Lists

Parties in Legislative Assembly, 2014-2018

Political Parties in Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, 2014-2018
Party Name (English)	Party Name (Spanish)	Legislative Seats (2014)	Ideology	Position	Historic Notes
National Liberation Party	Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN)	18	Social Democracy, Third Way, Social liberalism	Center with some Centre-left and Centre-right factions	Founded in 1951. Controlled the legislative assembly since inception and presidency for all but four elections.
Citizens' Action Party	Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC)	13	Progressivism, Social Democracy, Christian Democracy	Centre-left to left-wing, some Centre-right factions	Founded in 2002. Won presidential election of 2014.
Broad Front	Frente Amplio (FA)	9	Green, Progressivism, Humanism, 21st century socialism	Left-wing	Founded in 2004. Never controlled presidency.
Social Christian Unity Party	Partido Unidad Social Cristiana, (PUSC)	8	Conservatism, Christian democracy, Classical liberalism	Centre-right	Founded 1983 by four opposition parties. The main historical opposition to PLN. Three presidential victories in 1990, 1998, and 2002.
Libertarian Movement	Partido Movimiento Libertario (PML)	4	Classical liberalism, Liberal conservatism, Libertarianism (originally)	Right-wing	Founded 1994. Never controlled presidency.
Costa Rican Renovation Party	Partido Renovación Costarricense (PRC)	2	Christian politics, Social conservatism	Right-wing	Founded in 1995. Never controlled presidency.
National Restoration Party	Partido Restauración Nacional (PRN)	1	Christian politics, Social conservatism	Right-wing	Founded in 2005. Never controlled presidency.
Accessibility without Exclusion	Partido Accesibilidad sin Exclusión (PASE)	1	Single issue, rights for people with disabilities	N/A	Founded 2001. Never controlled presidency.
Christian Democratic Alliance	Alianza Demócrata Cristiana (ADC)	1	Conservativism, Christian Democracy, provincial (Cartago)	Right-wing	Founded in 2012.

Nationally Unrepresented Political Parties

Nationally Unrepresented Political Parties
Party Name (English)	Party Name (Spanish)	Ideology	Historic Notes
National Integration Party	Partido Integración Nacional (PIN)	Conservatism, center-right	Founded in 1998. Held one seat in 1998. Active as of 2014 election.
New Generation Party	Partido Nueva Generación (PNG)	Liberalism, Center	Founded in 2013, has four mayors and some councilmen/women
Patriotic Alliance	Alianza Patriótica (AP)	Social Democracy, center-left	Founded in 1982. Held one seat in 1982. Joined Coalition Change 2000. Active as of 2014.

Local

Local parties
Party Name (English)	Party Name (Spanish)	Canton	Historic Notes
Party of the Sun	Partido del Sol	Santa Ana	Founded in 1997. Originally single issue to oppose trash dump construction. Controlled Santa Ana City Council for four consecutive terms.
21st Century Curridabat	Curridabat Siglo 21	Curridabat	Founded in 1997, controlled Curridabat Mayoralty and City Council for four consecutive terms
Escazu's Progressive Yoke	Yunta Progresista Escazuseña	Escazu	Founded in 1996, controlled Escazu Mayoralty and City Council for three consecutive terms.

Defunct Political Parties

Defunct Political Parties
Party Name (English)	Party Name (Spanish)	Ideology	Historic Notes
National Union Party	Partido Unión Nacional (PUN)	Conservatism, Center-right	Founded in 1901. Has existed in various forms and coalition parties until 2010. Won the presidency four times (1902, 1928, 1948, 1958, 1966). 1948 election was unrecognized. Defunct as of 2010.
National Rescue Party	Partido Rescate Nacional (PRN)	Center-left, Moderate socialist	Founded in 1996. Held one legislative seat in 2006. Defunct as of 2010.
Union for Change Party	Partido Unión para el Cambio (PUC)	Centrist, social democracy	Founded in 2005. Existed for one election cycle as protest from ex-PLN members. Defunct as of 2010.
Homeland First Party	Partido Patria Primero (PP)	Conservative, social democracy, Catholic interest	Founded in 2006. Existed for one election cycle as a protest from ex-PAC members. Defunct as of 2010.
National Democrat Alliance Party	Partido Alianza Democrática Nacionalista	Social democracy, nationalist	Founded in 2004. Opposed CAFTA. Defunct as of 2010.
Democratic Force	Fuerza Democrática	Left wing	Founded in 1994. Held three seats from 1998-2002. Defunct as of 2006.
Popular Vanguard Party	Partido Vanguardia Popular (PVP)	Communist	Founded in 1931. Existed as The Workers' and Farmers' Party and Communist Party of Costa Rica. Defunct as of 1984.
National Unification Party	Partido Unificación Nacional	Centrist, personal	Founded in 1966. Often called "Calderónistas." Joined Unity Coalition in 1978, which later became PUSC. Defunct as of 1978.
Agrarian Labour Action Party	Partido Acción Laborista Agrícola (PALA)	Agrarian, Provincial Alajuela	Founded in 1990. Held one seat in 1998. Defunct as of 2007.

References

↑ Booth, John A.; yes (January 2008). Paul Webb and Stephen White, ed. Political Parties in Costa Rica: Democratic Stability and Party System Change in a Latin American Context (1 ed.). Oxford: Oxford Scholarship Online. ISBN 9780199289653. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
↑ McPhaul, John (8 February 2014). "Costa Rica elections demonstrate country’s democratic stability". The Tico Times. Retrieved 2 April 2014.

Political parties in Costa Rica

Represented in the Legislative Assembly	National Liberation Party (18) Citizens' Action Party (13) Broad Front (9) Social Christian Unity Party (8) Libertarian Movement (4) Costa Rican Renovation Party (2) Accessibility without Exclusion (1) Christian Democratic Alliance (1) National Restoration Party (1)

Unrepresented	Green National Integration Party National Union Party New Generation Party Patriotic Alliance

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