Authentic Radical Liberal Party

The Authentic Radical Liberal Party (Spanish: Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico or PLRA) is a centrist liberal political party in Paraguay. The party is a full member of Liberal International. The liberales, as they are known, are the leading opposition to the dominant conservative Colorado Party. They have taken this position since the end of the Alfredo Stroessner dictatorship in 1989. They are the political successors of the Liberal Party.

Authentic Radical Liberal Party Partido Liberal Radical Auténtico
President	Efraín Alegre
Founded	1887 (historical) 1978 (modern)
Split from	Radical Liberal Party
Headquarters	Iturbe 936 c/ Manuel Domínguez, Asunción
Ideology	Liberalism Radicalism
Political position	Centre to Center-left
International affiliation	Liberal International[1]
Regional affiliation	Liberal Network for Latin America
Chamber of Deputies	17 / 80
Senate	13 / 45
Party flag
Website
http://www.plra.org.py/
Politics of Paraguay Political parties Elections

The party was formed by Domingo Laíno, Carmen Casco de Lara Castro, Carlos Alberto González, Miguel Ángel Martínez Yaryes, and others in 1978, in opposition to the Constitutional Amendment of 1977 which allowed no term limits to the re-election of the Paraguayan president.[2]

At the 2003 legislative elections, the party won 25.7% of the popular vote and 21 out of 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 24.3%, leading to 12 out of 45 seats in the Senate. Its candidate at the presidential elections of the same day, Julio César Franco, won 24.0% of the popular vote.

In the presidential elections of 2008, the party achieved victory over the Colorado Party for the first time in 61 years through a political alliance headed by leftist Fernando Lugo and composed by other left-wing political parties. At the 2008 legislative elections, the party won 26 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 14 seats in the Senate. They are approximately tied with the Colorados in the number of seats won in the House of Deputies and the Senate.

Following the June 2012 Impeachment of Fernando Lugo the governing alliance fell apart, and Vice-President Federico Franco took over the presidency, thus exercising the first all-PLRA government in Paraguay.