The main political parties are:

Asociación Nacional Republicana or Partido Colorado, founded September 11, 1887 as the National Republican Party. It is the party with the most election members and has the most popular nationalistic tendency.

Partido Liberal-Radical Auténtico or PLRA emerged from a split of the Liberal Party in 1967. It is the second most important party in the country.

Partido Revolucionario Febrerista or PRF founded by the movement on February 17, 1936 and organized as a political party in 1951. It has a socialist tendency.

Partido Demócrata Cristiano or PDC founded by the movement of August 15, 1960 and officially recognized as a political party in 1989.

Partido Encuentro Nacional or PEN emerged in 1993 as the alliance of electoral coalition among the Movimiento Asunción para Todos, the PRF, a fraction of the PDC and other social and rural associations in the interior of the country to construct an alternative to the Partido Colorado. It became a political party the following year when the PRF left the coalition.

País Solidario emerged in 2000 from the exit of the PEN from the founders of the Movimiento Asunción para Todos in opposition of the support given by the PEN to the government of Gonzalez Macchi. It is still in its formation stage.

Unions

Approximately 10% of the workers are union members. The main union organizations are Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), Central Nacional de Trabajadores (CNT), Central de Sindicatos de Trabajadores (CESITEP), Confederación Paraguaya de Trabajadores (CPT, traditionally linked to Partido Colorado) and Mesa Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas (MCNOC).

Source: www.enciclonet.com (© Micronet)
Encarta Enciclopedy 99 (© Microsoft)
Translations and editing by: JoAnn Arbore Mainardi
 

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