Patriotic Society Party

Patriotic Society Party
Partido Sociedad Patriótica
AbbreviationPSP
LeaderLucio Gutiérrez
Secretary-GeneralJuan Carlos Rodríguez
FoundedMarch 4, 2002
Ideology
Political positionCentre-left[3] to
centre-right[4]
ColorsRed, green
National Assembly
3 / 137
Website
Former website

The Patriotic Society Party (Spanish: Partido Sociedad Patriótica, PSP), formerly the January 21 Patriotic Society (Spanish: Sociedad Patriótica 21 de Enero) is a populist and personalist political party in Ecuador, led by former army colonel Lucio Gutiérrez. "January 21" refers to the date of the 2000 Ecuadorian coup d'état.

At the legislative elections, 20 October 2002, the party won at least two out of one hundred seats, and additional seats in alliances with other parties. Its leader, Lucio Gutiérrez, a key figure in the 2000 coup d'état, formed an alliance with the indigenous Pachakutik Movement and won 20.3% of the vote in the presidential elections of the same day, winning the second round with 58.7%. His campaign appealed especially to indigenous citizens and lower-class voters.[2] However, Gutiérrez was deposed in 2005, and replaced with Alfredo Palacio, an independent. Gutiérrez subsequently returned to Ecuador and was imprisoned for five months before being released.[5][6] He was not allowed to participate in the 2006 election to succeed Palacio, as his political rights were suspended.[7]

His brother, Gilmar Gutierrez, was the Society's presidential candidate in 2006. Gilmar received 17% of the vote and came in third place. However, his party won 23 seats, making it the second-largest party in the National Assembly, where no party had a majority. Defections to the government left the January 21 Patriotic Society with 19 seats.

Lucio Gutiérrez recovered his political rights in 2008[8] and has unsuccessfully run for president again in 2009 and 2013.

  1. ^ Murphy, Walter F. (2007), Constitutional Democracy: Creating And Maintaining a Just Political Order, Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 389
  2. ^ a b Levitt, Barry S. (2007), "Ecuador 2004–2005: Democratic Crisis Redux", Promoting Democracy in the Americas, p. 231
  3. ^ Becker, Marc (2013), "Ecuador: Indigenous Struggles and the Ambiguities of Power", The New Latin American Left: Cracks in the Empire, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 218
  4. ^ Becker, Marc (2011), Pachakutik: Indigenous Movements and Electoral Politics in Ecuador, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 79
  5. ^ "Lucio Gutiérrez, preso en el ex Penal García Moreno | HOY". Archived from the original on 2013-01-06. Retrieved 2012-12-23.
  6. ^ "Lucio Gutiérrez pasa de la Cárcel 4 a la utarima". HOY. Archived from the original on 6 January 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
  7. ^ Política Nacional (12 May 2006). "TSE suspende derechos políticos de Lucio Gutiérrez" [TSE suspends political rights of Lucio Gutiérrez]. Ecuadorinmediato (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  8. ^ "TSE restituye derechos políticos a Lucio Gutiérrez | HOY". Archived from the original on 2013-01-06. Retrieved 2012-12-23.