Citizens' Action Party

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Costa Rica

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The Citizen's Action Party (Spanish: Partido Acción Ciudadana; commonly abbreviated as PAC) is a political party in Costa Rica.

Its plaform is based on encouraging citizen participation and involvement in politics. One of its guiding ideals is to fight against corruption, arguing that it is one of the main causes of subdevelopment and voter apathy.

It was founded in December 2000 and startled the Costa Rican political arena with a very strong showing in the 2002 general elections. In the presidential vote, party founder and candidate Ottón Solís was able to secure 26% of the votes – an unprecedented amount for a third party in Costa Rica – and force a runoff between the two traditional parties, the PLN and the PUSC.

The party won 21.9 % of the popular vote and 14 out of 57 seats in the Legislative Assembly, making it the third strongest political force in the legislature. A few months later, however, after a series of internal disputes, six of the party's 14 deputies resigned from the party, leaving PAC with only eight seats.

In the 5 February 2006 parliamentary election, the party won 17 out of 57 seats. Its candidate at the presidential election of the same day, Ottón Solís won 39,8%, so he was defeated.

[edit] External link

• Official web site