Liberal Party (Spain, 1976)

The Liberal Party (Spanish: Partido Liberal; PL) was a liberal political party in Spain founded in 1976.^[2]

Liberal Party Partido Liberal
Founder	Enrique Larroque
Founded	9 April 1976 (1976-04-09)
Dissolved	15 March 1989 (1989-03-15)
Merged into	People's Party
Ideology	Classical liberalism Conservative liberalism
Political position	Centre-right[1]
Politics of Spain Political parties Elections

History

The PL was initially scheduled to contest the 1977 Spanish general election within Adolfo Suárez's Union of the Democratic Centre (UCD) platform, but on 8 May 1977, the party announced that it would withdraw from the UCD and would not be contesting the upcoming election.^[3] It would then rejoin the UCD after the 1979 Spanish general election and until 1983, when it aligned itself with the People's Alliance (AP), the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Liberal Union (UL). On 22 December 1984, the latter merged into the Liberal Party. These three parties formed the People's Coalition for the 1986 election.

In 1989, the party, along with AP and PDP, merged to form the new People's Party (PP).^[4]

Esperanza Aguirre, now a leading PP figure, was a Liberal member.

Electoral performance

Cortes Generales

Cortes Generales
Election	Congress					Senate		Leading candidate	Status in legislature
	Votes	%	#	Seats	+/–	Seats	+/–
1979	15,774	0.09%	30th	0 / 350	0	0 / 208	0	Enrique Larroque	No seats
1986	Within AP–PDP–PL			12 / 350	12	8 / 208	8	Enrique Larroque	Opposition

References

1. Emil J. Kirchner (3 November 1988). Liberal Parties in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 426–. ISBN 978-0-521-32394-9.
2. "En octubre, congreso del Partido Liberal". ABC (in Spanish). 20 May 1976. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
3. "Última hora: El Partido Liberal abandona el Centro". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 8 May 1977. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
4. "Los liberales se incorporan al PP, pero mantienen las siglas". El País (in Spanish). 16 March 1989. Retrieved 31 July 2015.