Social Party of National Unity

Social Party of National Unity
Partido Social de Unidad Nacional
Leader Juan Manuel Santos
President Sergio Díaz-Granados Guida
Founded 2005
Headquarters Bogotá, Colombia
Ideology Uribism (formerly)
Communitarism
Liberalism
Third Way[1]
Political position Center-right
National affiliation National Unity
International affiliation Liberal International (observer)
Colours              Red, yellow, green
Seats in the Chamber of Representatives
39 / 164
Seats in the Senate
21 / 102
Governors
4 / 32
Website
www.partidodelau.com
Politics of Colombia
Political parties
Elections

The Social Party of National Unity (Spanish: Partido Social de Unidad Nacional), or Party of the U (Spanish: Partido de «la U») is a political party in Colombia. It attempts to unite various parliamentary supporters of Álvaro Uribe, the Uribistas, in one political party. Currently, it is Colombia's largest political party and has formed a coalition with the Radical Change and the Colombian Liberal Party.

Security is the top priority of most Uribistas, followed by employment and investment in Colombia. Uribistas also support lower taxes for private companies and for citizens. They stand in strong opposition to former president of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and to the Bolivarian movement that Chavez led in different countries of Latin America.

The party was founded in 2005 and is led by Juan Manuel Santos. Most members of the movement left the Colombian Liberal Party but they failed to unite all Uribistas: in particular the Radical Change (Cambio Radical) didn't join. The party took part in the parliamentary elections of 2006, in which it won 30 out of 166 deputies and 20 out of 100 senators.

The party, along with Cambio Radical, were the first to investigate the relation between some candidates and paramilitary forces. After investigating, many candidates were fired from the party and weren't supported by it. Most of these candidates joined minor parties, and were elected as congressmen.

In 2009, more than half of the congressmen from the Radical Change Party switched to Party of the U, so the party became Colombia's largest.

For 2010 presidential elections, Party of the U chose former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos as presidential candidate and syndicalist Angelino Garzon as vicepresidential candidate. They have obtained support from an important sector of the Colombian Conservative Party.

On March 14, 2010, congressional elections were held. Party of the U obtained 27 seats in senate, seven more than in 2006.

On June 20, 2010, candidate Juan Manuel Santos was elected President of Colombia.

Ideological platform

The Programatic Declaration (Declaración Programática) is the official ideological platform of the party.

Since 2012, the party has been an observer member of the Liberal International.[3]

Founding members

References

  1. ↑ Crowe, Darcy (21 June 2010). "Colombia Elects Santos as President". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Crowe, Darcy (21 June 2010). "Colombia Elects Santos as President". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  3. ↑ Partido de la U - Colombia, Liberal International: Observer members. Retrieved on 2 March 2013.

External links