Christian People's Party Partido Popular Cristiano | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PPC |
| President | Carlos Neuhaus[1] |
| Secretary-General | Claudia Chirinos Matilde Lozada Javier Bedoya Denegri |
| Founder | Luis Bedoya Reyes |
| Founded | December 18, 1966 |
| Split from | Christian Democratic Party |
| Headquarters | 1484Alfonso Ugarte Ave,Lima |
| Membership(2020) | 278,672[2] |
| Ideology | Christian democracy Social conservatism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| Religion | Catholic Church |
| National affiliation | National Unity |
| Regional affiliation | Christian Democrat Organization of America Union of Latin American Parties[3] |
| International affiliation | Christian Democrat International International Democracy Union |
| Colors | Green |
| Seats in the Congress | 0 / 130 |
| Governorships | 0 / 25 |
| Regional Councillors | 0 / 274 |
| Province Mayorships | 0 / 196 |
| District Mayorships | 0 / 1,874 |
| Website | |
| ppc | |
TheChristian People's Party (Spanish:Partido Popular Cristiano,PPC) is acentre-right andconservative political party based on the principles ofChristian democracy. It was founded in 1966 byChristian Democratic Party dissidents, led byLuis Bedoya Reyes, at the timemayor of Lima.
Participating for the first time in elections in 1978, the PPC managed to solidify its presence in coastal urban areas throughout the 1980s, but it was not enough to win the Peruvian presidency, asLuis Bedoya Reyes placed third in both the1980 and1985 general elections. The 1990s saw the party experience an internal crisis whileFujimorism would dominateright-wing politics throughout the decade.
In 2000, the PPC's party registration was revoked by theNational Jury of Elections under orders of theFujimori administration. Recovering its registration in the aftermath of Fujimori's downfall, it became the dominant party of theNational Unity coalition, placing third in both the2001 and2006 general elections under the candidacy ofLourdes Flores.
Following a series of political failures amid a more severe internal crisis throughout the 2010s, the PPC failed to overcome the electoral threshold at the2021 general election, and lost its party registration for a second time at theNational Jury of Elections.[4][5]
The party attained its re-registration on 11 May 2024, and its projected to participate in theNational Unity coalition for the2026 general election withRoberto Chiabra as the coalition’s presumptive presidential nominee.[6][7][8][9]
The party was founded on December 18, 1966 by a group of members of theDemocracia Cristiana party that defected by ideological motives. While their former party supported a constitutional break to accelerate the reforms needed by the country, the founders of the PPC, led byLuis Bedoya Reyes still believed in the constitutional order. Thus they retired from Democracia Cristiana and founded the new party.
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(January 2020) |
In 1968, GeneralJuan Velasco Alvarado staged acoup d'etat againstPresidentFernando Belaúnde Terry, an ally ofLuis Bedoya Reyes. The PPC did not support the military regime and was one of its most fierce opponents, along with theAmerican Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA). The latter was declared illegal.
In 1978, the government of GeneralFrancisco Morales-Bermúdez called for elections for aConstituent Assembly. The PPC attained the second place in the polls, after the APRA. Bedoya Reyes, widely preferred by the Assembly members to become its president, gave the position to the veteran APRA leader,Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre.
Luis Bedoya Reyes ran as the PPC's candidate for president in the1980 general election, with Ernesto Alayza and Roberto Ramírez del Villar as his two running mates. Despite Bedoya finishing in the third place, the PPC obtained six seats in the Senate, as well as 10 representatives in the lower house.
During the elections, the PPC allied with the soon-to-be elected PresidentFernando Belaúnde Terry, fromAcción Popular. The PPC-Accíon Popular coalition gave Belaúnde the majority in the Senate and in the Deputies Chamber. The coalition also designated four PPC members asMinisters, including its leaderBedoya Reyes andFelipe Osterling Parodi.
For the General Elections of 1985, the coalition with Acción Popular was finished, and thus, both parties presented separate candidates. Bedoya Reyes finished in third again, trailing behindAlfonso Barrantes Lingán and ahead ofJavier Alva Orlandinj. DuringAlan García's government, the PPC criticised theheterodox economic model designed by the APRA.
The PPC had only a few members in both chambers. Its most important representatives were Felipe Osterling Parodi in theSenate of Peru andJavier Bedoya – son of the founder of the PPC – in theChamber of Deputies. WhenAlan García sought to take control of private banking,Luis Bedoya Reyes andLourdes Flores rallied in the streets against the proposal. They were joined in the manifestations by the famous Peruvian writerMario Vargas Llosa. The movement did stop the government from passing the polemical Law.[10]
In 1990, the PPC enters a liberal coalition with Acción Popular andMario Vargas Llosa'sMovimiento Libertad (Liberty Movement), forming the Frente Democrático (Democratic Front, FREDEMO), which launched Vargas Llosa as a candidate for the presidency. Although he wasn't elected, the coalition's participation in the Chamber of Deputies was a success: it got 25 representatives, attaining the majority, includingJavier Bedoya, one of the most voted deputies nationwide.
The PPC held the presidency of the Senate underFelipe Osterling Parodi's leadership when, in 1992,Alberto Fujimori staged a self-coup, dissolving both Chambers of the Congress, neutralising the FREDEMO and the APRA.
Fujimori held polls to elect aDemocratic Constituent Congress, where his party,Cambio 90-Nueva Mayoría, got an absolute majority. The PPC was divided between those who wanted to be part of the elections and those who did not want to. Amongst those who did not want to participate whereNatale Amprimo,Alberto Borea andAlberto Andrade, arguing that the PPC should not be part of a non-democratic process. In the other hand,Luis Bedoya Reyes,Lourdes Flores and Xavier Barrón contended that the PPC should present itself to guaranteedemocracy in the Constituent Congress. The decision of being part of the elections led to the resignations of Amprimo, Borea and Andrade. The PPC was the second most-voted party, but it was far behind ofCambio 90-Nueva Mayoría.
In theGeneral Elections of 1995, the PPC nominatedLourdes Flores as its candidate for president, but in the end she resigned to supportJavier Pérez de Cuéllar's candidacy. Fujimori won without a run-off and the PPC only got the seventh place in the elections for Congressmen and three out of 120.
When Alberto Fujimori wanted to run for a third period in theGeneral Elections of 2000, he was strongly opposed by the PPC. Congressmen Xavier Barrón,Ántero Flores Aráoz and Lourdes Flores proposed a law project that gave way to areferendum, where the people could decide whether Fujimori could participate in the elections. The Congress, controlled byCambio 90-Nueva Mayoría did not let the Law pass. After the proposal of the law, theNational Jury of Elections withdrew the PPC's inscription as a party, so it could not present candidates for the Congress. Because of that,Alejandro Toledo'sPerú Posible party decided to support the PPC, including Xavier Barrón and Antero Flores Aráoz, as guests in its list for the Congress. Both of them were elected to Congress.
In 2001, during the interim government ofAcción Popular'sValentín Paniagua, the PPC recouped its inscription. It became part of a political coalition withRenovación Nacional andCambio Radical, namedUnidad Nacional (National Unity). The alliance's candidate for president wasLourdes Flores, who placed third by a narrow margin.
In 2006, the Unidad Nacional coalition continued, maintainingLourdes Flores as its candidate. She did not pass to the round-off, again by a narrow margin, and again trailing behind Alan García, who would become President for a second time.
In 2007,Ántero Flores Aráoz, the former president of the party, said in a disgraceful way that he would like to run for the Presidency of the Republic, as long as his party accredits it. He was accused of having a little brotherly and loyal behavior with the leader and members of the party, so he finally resigned from the PPC. Soon after, he was appointed permanent ambassador of Peru to the OAS.Lourdes Flores ran for mayor of Lima in the municipal elections of Lima in 2010, being defeated bySusana Villarán.
In 2010, they formed theAlliance for the Great Change, launchingPedro Pablo Kuczynski to the presidency in the general elections of Peru in 2011. This alliance won 12 of the 130 seats in the Congress of the Republic, 7 of which belong to the PPC .
In November 2011,Raúl Castro Stagnaro was elected as the new party president, replacingLourdes Flores.
The PPC decided to support the Metropolitan Council of Lima in the popular consultation process for the revocation of March 2013, getting Mayor Susana Villarán to commit to fulfilling an agenda for Lima. The councilors of the mayor's party were revoked, but those of the PPC were supported by the citizens. In November of the same year, the PPC achieved victory in the new municipal elections, held to replace the accessories who had entered after the March process. Thus, since January 2014, the PPC is the first minority of the Metropolitan Council.
In 2014, the PPC bases elected the former mayor of Villa El Salvador, Jaime Zea as a Candidate for Mayor of Lima. The result of the electoral process was one of the worst defeats of the party, barely obtaining seven district mayoralties in Lima and its candidate 3% of the votes, remaining in 6th place.
In 2016, they formed a political coalition withAPRA called thePopular Alliance, after not obtaining any seats in congress, the political alliance was dissolved. That is why it does not have representation in congress for the period 2016-2021, the Partido Popular Cristiano party is in crisis. In this same year, the party premises are for sale valued at US $2,000,000.00.[11]
The PPC militants, according to the party's Statute, convened a National Congress for December 16 and 17, 2017,[12] in order to be able to elect a new national leadership due to the absence of authorities since 2016. Former CongressmanAlberto Beingolea was elected in this process, defeating fellow former CongressmanJavier Bedoya de Vivanco.
For the2021 general election,Alberto Beingolea announced the establishment ofNational Unity, a party leadership roundtable of the Christian People's Party to analyze options if running in a coalition or independently in the elections. The roundtable managed to negotiate with a variety of political personalities and parties until reaching an agreementCésar Acuña ofAlliance for Progress.[13] The alliance was officially signed on 12 October 2020, but lasted only six days, upon the revelation of disconformity from PPC's leadership, most prominently from the party Secretary General,Marisol Pérez Tello, who rejected Acuña by stating "she would not support a plagiarizer".[14] Illegal audios were revealed by the press, and the alliance broke off almost immediately.[15]
Following the failed agreement withAlliance for Progress, Beingolea announced that he would run for the party's presidential nomination.[16] He formally attained the nomination on 29 November 2020.
On election day, Beingolea only garnered 2% of the vote, placing eleventh in the election for the presidency; at congressional level, the party failed to attain representation. The party lost its registration at theNational Jury of Elections on 7 September 2021, alongside other fifteen parties that failed to overcome the electoral threshold in the last general election.[5]
Less than three years since the loss of the party registration, the party regained its registration for a second time at theNational Jury of Elections on 10 May 2024.[17]
Under the leadership ofCarlos Neuhaus, the party announced its primary election consisting of the candidacy’s of Neuhaus himself, former Prime MinisterÓscar Valdés, former GovernorFernando Cillóniz ofIca, and former Foreign MinisterJavier González Olaechea.[18]
| Year | Candidate | Party / Coalition | Votes | Percentage | Outcome | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Luis Bedoya Reyes |  | Partido Popular Cristiano | 382 957 | 9.58 | 3rd |
| 1985 | Democratic Convergence PPC-MBH | 773 705 | 11.89 | 3rd | ||
| 1990 | Mario Vargas Llosa | .jpg) | Democratic Front | 1st Round: 2 163 323 2nd Round: | 1st Round: 32.57 37.62 | 1st Round: 1st 2nd Round: |
| 1995 | Lourdes Flores | .jpg) | Partido Popular Cristiano | Ticket withdrawn | N/A | N/A |
| 2001 | National Unity | 2 576 653 | 24.30 | 3rd | ||
| 2006 | National Unity | 2 923 280 | 23.81 | 3rd | ||
| 2011 | Pedro Pablo Kuczynski | .jpg) | Alliance for the Great Change | 2 711 450 | 18.51 | 3rd |
| 2016 | Alan García |  | Popular Alliance | 894 278 | 5.83 | 5th |
| 2021 | Alberto Beingolea |  | Partido Popular Cristiano | 278,784 | 1.98 | 11th |
| Year | Votes | % | Seats |  / | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 606 651 | 9.7% | 8 / 80 |  | Minority |
| 1995 | 135 236 | 3.1% | 3 / 120 | 5 | Minority |
| 2000 | Inscription withdrawn | N/A | N/A | | N/A |
| 2001 | 1 304 037as part ofNational Unity. 6 from the Christian People's Party | 13.8% | 17 / 120 | 6 | Minority |
| 2006 | 1 648 717as part ofNational Unity. 10 from the Christian People's Party | 15.3% | 17 / 120 | 4 | Minority |
| 2011 | 1 851 080as part ofAlliance for the Great Change. 7 from the Christian People's Party. | 14.4% | 12 / 130 | 3 | Minority |
| 2016 | 1 013 735as part ofPopular Alliance. 0 from the Christian People's Party. | 8.3% | 5 / 130 | 7 | N/A |
| 2020 | 590 378 | 4.0% | 0 / 130 | | N/A |
| 2021 | 212 811 | 1.7% | 0 / 130 | | N/A |
| Year | Votes | % | Seats | / | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 385 674 | 9.3% | 6 / 60 | 6 | Minority |
| 1985 | 675 621as part ofDemocratic Convergence. 3 from the Christian People's Party. | 11.2% | 7 / 60 | 3 | Minority |
| 1990 | 1 791 077as part ofDemocratic Front. 5 from the Christian People's Party. | 32.3% | 20 / 60 | 2 | Minority |
| Year | Votes | % | Seats | / | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 348 578 | 9.6% | 10 / 180 | 10 | Minority |
| 1985 | 649 404as part ofDemocratic Convergence. 6 from the Christian People's Party. | 11.1% | 12 / 180 | 4 | Minority |
| 1990 | 1 492 513as part ofDemocratic Front. 25 from the Christian People's Party. | 30.1% | 62 / 180 | 19 | Minority |
Three political parties have formalized the "National Unity" alliance ahead of the 2026 general elections, and have designated former congressman Roberto Chiabra as their presidential nominee.
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