National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)

National Liberation Party Partido Liberación Nacional
Founded	1951
Ideology	Social democracy Democratic socialism
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Socialist International
Official colours	Green and White
Legislative Assembly	23 / 57
Website
http://www.pln.or.cr/
Politics of Costa Rica Political parties Elections

The National Liberation Party (Spanish: Partido Liberación Nacional; commonly abbreviated as PLN) is a political party in Costa Rica.

The PLN was founded by José Figueres in 1951, following the end of the Costa Rican Civil War. It soon became one of the most important in the country. In 2002, for the first time in history, it lost its second consecutive election. The party won only 27.1 % of the popular vote and 17 out of 57 seats. At the presidential elections of the same date, its candidate, Rolando Araya Monge won 31.0 % (the worst showing ever for the party) of the vote and was defeated in the run off election by Abel Pacheco.

Some of the most dynamic and popular leaders that have presided over the country have come from the PLN. Among them are Civil War hero José Figueres and Nobel Peace Prize winner Óscar Arias.

The party is a member of the Socialist International.^[1]

In the February 5, 2006 parliamentary election, the party won 25 out of 57 seats. Its candidate at the presidential election of the same day, Óscar Arias won 40.92% and was elected. In the Costa Rican general election, 2010, Laura Chinchilla, the previous Vice-President, and the PLN candidate won the election with an initial count of 47%.^[2]

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)

References

1. ^ Socialist International list of members
2. ^ Elisabeth Malkin (February 8, 2010). "Costa Rica: Female Leader Elected". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/world/americas/09costarica.html. Retrieved February 10, 2010.