Democratic Force (Costa Rica)

Democratic Force (Spanish: Fuerza Democrática) nicknamed “El Naranjazo” (the Big Orange or the Orange Hit because the color of its flag) was a political party in Costa Rica.

Democratic Force Fuerza Democrática
President	Marco Núñez González
Secretary-General	Vladimir de la Cruz de Lemos
Founded	November 1996, 21 (21-11-1996)
Dissolved	March 2010, 18 (18-03-2010)
Ideology	Socialism
Colors	Orange
Party flag
Politics of Costa Rica Political parties Elections

The party was founded in 1992 by Gerardo Trejos and other left-wing Costa Rican leaders taking the structure of the Progress Party that nominated poet Isaac Felipe Azofeifa for the 1990 general election. For around a decade, it was Costa Rica's main alternative force and third party in a very rigid two-party system dominated by the major parties PLN and PUSC.

In the 1994 elections, the party won two seats,^[1] whilst its candidates in the presidential election, TV personality and folklorist Miguel Zúñiga Díaz a.k.a. Miguel Salguero, finished third with 1.9% of the vote. In the 1998 elections, it gained three seats, whilst its candidate (this time historian Vladimir De la Cruz De Lemos) again finished third in the presidential contest. The appearance of new progressive party PAC that managed to attract most of the anti-bipartisan vote with its charismatic leader Ottón Solís^[2] and very harsh internal conflicts^[3] gravely affected the party and despite receiving 2% of the parliamentary vote in 2002 it lost all three seats, whilst De la Cruz De Lemos finished seventh in the presidential election, receiving just 0.3% of the vote. The party disbanded in 2010,^[4] some of its members became members of other parties, like former San José councilor and latter deputy Alberto Salom and former deputy Rodrigo Gutiérrez joined PAC whilst others like former deputy José Merino del Río and his advisor José María Villalta joined the new left-wing party Broad Front.

References

1. Nohlen, D (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p175 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
2. Sánchez Campos, Fernando. Partidos políticos, elecciones y lealtades partidarias en Costa Rica (in Spanish).
3. Herrera, Mauricio (2001). "FD ahonda división interna" (in Spanish). La Nación. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
4. "Canceled parties". Supreme Electoral Tribunal. Retrieved 27 March 2016.