Social Christian Party (Ecuador)

The Social Christian Party (Spanish: Partido Social Cristiano; PSC) is a center-right political party in Ecuador.

The party was founded by Camilo Ponce Enríquez and 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, its only one until now. Sixto Durán Ballén was president also but not as PSC's candidate. In fact, he was part of the political party until before the elections for the period 1992-1996, when he decided to split for his own party, the UR (Unión Republicana) because the PSC appointed Jaime Nebot as their candidate. 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.

Its candidate Antonio Xavier Neira Menéndez won 12.2 percent of the vote in the 2002 presidential election. Its candidate in the 2006 presidential election was Cynthia Viteri. She garnered 9.91 percent of the overall votes cast and failed to enter into the second round of runoff voting. Neira and Viteri both came in 5th place. At the 2006 legislative elections, the party won 13 of the 100 seats, much less than last period.

After León Febres Cordero decease, Jaime Nebot took the lead of the party, and split it into a coalition with his provincial brother party called "Madera de Guerrero", an allusion to a song of the folklore of Guayaquil with the same name. This coalition is the third force in the National Assembly(parliament).

External links

• Official website