Citizens' Action Party

The Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC, German, Citizens Action Party ') is a party of the center-left in Costa Rica.

It was founded in 2000 on the initiative of Otton Solís Fallas authoritative, a former MPs and ministers of the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN ). Several of the founding members were also over from the PLN. As of the 2002 election, the PAC achieved with an anti- corruption campaign 14 seats in the parliament (one quarter of the total). So she was close behind the two established major parties Partido Unidad Social Cristiana and PLN ( PUSC ), which suffered two significant losses. Your presidential candidate Otton Solis came to 26.2 % of the vote. Although he only reached the third place, his strong performance at the expense of the candidates of established political parties dissolved but for the first time in nearly fifty years, a second ballot, since no candidate reached the quorum of 40%. Thus, the hitherto prevailing de facto two-party system ended in Costa Rica.

Like other left-wing parties, trade unions and non-governmental organizations - - In contrast to PLN, the PAC moved into a clear stand against the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and the Dominican Republic ( DR -CAFTA or CAFTA -DR -US). In the 2006 election, she was able to expand their success yet. This time they came up with 17 seats (30% of the total), Solís reached in the presidential election in second place and subject to the PLN candidate Óscar Arias Sánchez with a difference of only 1.2 percentage points. Arias ' signing of CAFTA was approved by referendum in 2007. The PAC has established itself as the second largest party in the country and occupy the place left of center on the political spectrum of Costa Rica, to the PLN had given up by their devotion to neo-liberal reforms. In the 2010 election their seat number was nevertheless back to 12. Otton Solís, who raced for the third time as a presidential candidate came again to second place, but this time with a large distance to the winner Laura Chinchilla (PLN). In the 2014 election is the presidential candidate of the PAC Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera.

The support of the PAC is stronger than in rural areas in the cities, their strongholds are located in the more developed metropolitan area in the central valley of Costa Rica.