Nationalist Republican Alliance

Nationalist Republican Alliance Alianza Republicana Nacionalista
Abbreviation	ARENA
President	Erick Salguero
Director of Legislative Affairs	TBA
Director of Municipal Affairs	Milagro Navas
Founder	Roberto D'Aubuisson
Founded	30 September 1981; 39 years ago (1981-09-30)
Registered	4 December 1981; 39 years ago (1981-12-04)
Merger of	National Broad Front[1] ORDEN Salvadoran Nationalist Movement
Split from	National Conciliation Party
Headquarters	Prolongación Calle Arce, entre 45 y 47 av N. #2429. Col. Flor Blanca, San Salvador, El Salvador
Youth wing	Nationalist Republican Youth
Paramilitary wing	Death squads (before 1989)
Membership (2019)	127,543[2]
Ideology	Conservatism[3][4] Nationalism[5] Anti-communism[6] Economic liberalism[7]
Political position	Right-wing[8][9][10][11] Before 1989: Far-right
Regional affiliation	Union of Latin American Parties[12]
International affiliation	International Democrat Union World League for Freedom and Democracy
PARLACEN group	Democratic Alliance
Colours	Blue   White   Red
Slogan	«Peace, progress and freedom» (Spanish: «Paz, progreso y libertad»)
Seats in the Legislative Assembly	14 / 84
Mayors	41 / 262
Seats in the PARLACEN	3 / 20
Website
arena.org.sv
Politics of El Salvador Political parties Elections

The Nationalist Republican Alliance (Spanish: Alianza Republicana Nacionalista, ARENA) is a conservative,^[7] right-wing^[8] political party of El Salvador. It was founded on 30 September 1981 by retired Salvadoran Army Major Roberto D'Aubuisson. It defines itself as a political institution constituted to defend the democratic, republican, and representative system of government, the social market economy system and nationalism.

ARENA controlled the National Assembly of El Salvador until 1985, and its party leader Alfredo Cristiani was elected to the presidency in 1989. ARENA controlled the presidency from 1989 until 2009. The party gained a plurality in the Legislative Assembly in 2012.

History[]

This section is missing information about suspicion in the murder of Oscar Romero. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (December 2020)

ARENA was founded in 1981 and was composed of former members from PCN including Roberto D'Aubuisson, who ordered the murder of the martyr and saint, Archbishop Oscar Romero.^[13] The party arose in response to "the insurgency of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, FMLN, a group that united peasant farmers, unionists and intellectuals, which tried, through arms, to overthrow the dictatorship and to install a state regime inspired by the governments of revolutionary Cuba and Sandinista Nicaragua".^{[citation needed]}

The ideology the party claims to believe in is a system of democratic and representative government, emphasizing individual rights, the family as the nucleus of society and the respect for private property.

In February 2007, three ARENA politicians were murdered in Guatemala, including Eduardo D'Aubuisson, the son of party founder Roberto D'Aubuisson, in what was considered by the police as a crime related to drugs.^[14][15]

In 2009, ARENA took out a full-page ad in a Salvadorean newspaper calling on President Mauricio Funes to recognise the interim Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti installed after the military had expelled President Manuel Zelaya.^[16]

Structure[]

The highest authority of the party ARENA is the Comité Ejecutivo Nacionalista (COENA, "Nationalist Executive Committee"), which consists of 13 members. The members must be re-elected annually through the General Assembly of ARENA members.^{[original research?]}

In addition to the COENA, there are 14 Directors-in-Chief, one for each department and departmental councils called "Juntas Directivas Conjuntas" to coordinate political work in their respective department. In each department, a director is chosen who works with a specific member of COENA. The director's role is to organize and co-ordinate electoral campaigns and help the councils form party structures in the municipalities of their departments.^{[original research?]}

On 19 February 2013, Jorge Velado assumed the position as president of COENA, in a party leadership shake-up aimed at re-energizing a stale organization tainted by its association with the violent death squads of the 1980s, widespread corruption and the switch to the U.S. dollar as the national currency.

Electoral record[]

At the legislative elections held on 16 March 2003, the party won 32.0% of the popular vote and 27 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly. ARENA's successful candidate in El Salvador's 2004 presidential election was Antonio Saca. On 21 March 2004, Saca defeated Schafik Handal, the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, by a margin of 58% to 36% with 70% turnout. He was sworn in as president the following 1 June.

In the 12 March 2006 legislative election, the party won 39.4% of the popular vote and 32 out of 84 seats. At the 18 January 2009 legislative elections, the party received 38.55% of the vote, and again won 32 of the 84 seats.

On 15 March 2009, ARENA candidate Rodrigo Ávila lost the presidential election to Mauricio Funes of the FMLN. After elections, the party president was changed to Alfredo Cristiani.^{[citation needed]}

On 9 March 2014 Salvador Sanchez Ceren of FMLN narrowly defeated the ARENA candidate Norman Quijano by 0.2% in a run-off vote in a controversial election.^[17]

ARENA also lost both 2019 presidential election and 2021 legislative election dominated by new Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas). The party current president Nayib Bukele.^[18]

Electoral history[]

Presidential elections[]

Election	Candidate	First round		Second round		Result
		Votes	%	Votes	%
1984	Roberto D'Aubuisson	376,917	29.77%	651,741	46.41%	Lost N
1989	Alfredo Cristiani	505,370	53.82%			Elected Y
1994	Armando Calderón Sol	641,108	49.03%	818,264	68.35%	Elected Y
1999	Francisco Flores	614,268	51.96%			Elected Y
2004	Antonio Saca	1,314,436	57.71%			Elected Y
2009	Rodrigo Ávila	1,284,588	48.68%			Lost N
2014	Norman Quijano	1,047,592	38.96%	1,489,451	49.89%	Lost N
2019	Carlos Calleja	857,084	31.72%			Lost N

Legislative Assembly elections[]

Election	Votes	%	Position	Seats	+/–	Status in legislature
1982	286,665	29.28%	2nd	19 / 60	19	Opposition
1985	286,665	29.70%	2nd	13 / 60	6	Opposition
1988	447,696	48.10%	1st	31 / 60	18	Opposition
1991	466,091	44.33%	1st	39 / 84	8	Government
1994	605,775	45.03%	1st	39 / 84		Government
1997	396,301	35.40%	1st	28 / 84	11	Government
2000	436,169	36.04%	1st	29 / 84	1	Government
2003	446,233	31.90%	2nd	27 / 84	1	Government
2006	620,117	39.40%	2nd	34 / 84	7	Government
2009	854,166	38.55%	2nd	32 / 84	2	Opposition
2012	620,117	39.40%	2nd	34 / 84	2	Opposition
2015	885,374	38.90%	1st	32 / 84	2	Opposition
2018	886,365	41.72%	1st	37 / 84	5	Opposition
2021	305,108	12.22%	2nd	14 / 84	23	Opposition

Presidents of El Salvador[]

No.	President		Term start	Term end	Term length	Vice President
1 (40)		Alfredo Cristiani (born 1947)	1 June 1989	1 June 1994	5 years
2 (41)		Armando Calderón Sol (1948–2017)	1 June 1994	1 June 1999	5 years
3 (42)		Francisco Flores Pérez (1959–2016)	1 June 1999	1 June 2004	5 years		Carlos Quintanilla Schmidt
4 (43)		Antonio Saca (born 1965)	1 June 2004	1 June 2009	5 years		Ana Vilma de Escobar

References[]

External links[]

• Official website (in Spanish)
• Youth wing website (in Spanish)
• Rodrigo Ávila's website (in Spanish)