The
Social Christian Party (;
PSC) is a center-right
political party in
Ecuador.
The party was founded by
Camilo Ponce Enríquez and was initially focused on
Quito. Since the 1980s, however, the party's popularity is greatest on the coastal areas, particularly around Ecuador's economic center and most populous city,
Guayaquil, and in coastal provinces, such as
Guayas,
El Oro,
Los Rios, and
Manabi, which constitute about half of the country's population. However, as a sign of deep regional divide on politics, the party has little power in the
Andean region. Thus, while holding all major positions in Guayas and Guayaquil, the PSC has not held the presidential office since the presidency of
León Febres Cordero, its only one until now.
Sixto Durán Ballén was president also but not as PSC's candidate. In fact, he was part of the political party until before the elections for the period 1992-1996, when he decided to split for his own party, the UR (Unión Republicana) because the PSC appointed
Jaime Nebot as their candidate. Nebot was the party's presidential candidate again in 1996. He won first place in the first round with 28% of the vote, but lost in the runoff with 46% of the vote.
Its candidate
Antonio Xavier Neira Menéndez won 12.2 percent of the vote in the
2002 presidential election. Its candidate in the
2006 presidential election was
Cynthia Viteri. She garnered 9.91 percent of the overall votes cast and failed to enter into the second round of
runoff voting. Neira...
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