National Encounter Party

The National Encounter Party (Spanish: Partido Encuentro Nacional, PEN) is a political party in Paraguay.

National Encounter Party Partido Encuentro Nacional
Abbreviation	PEN
President	Gloria Portillo[1]
Founder	Guillermo Caballero
Founded	26 October 1991 (1991-10-26)
Headquarters	Asunción
Ideology	Social democracy Third Way
Political position	Centre-left
National affiliation	Concertación
Chamber of Deputies	1 / 80
Senate	1 / 45
Website
www.encuentronacional.org.py
Politics of Paraguay Political parties Elections

History

The National Encounter Movement was established on 26 October 1991. Prior to the 1993 elections the National Encounter Party was established as a coalition of the Revolutionary Febrerista Party, the Christian Democratic Party, Asuncion for All and a breakaway faction of the Colorado Party.^[2] The elections saw the party receive 17.9% of the national vote, becoming the country's third largest party with nine seats in the Chamber of Deputies and eight in the Senate. Together with the Authentic Radical Liberal Party (PLRA), it held a majority in the Chamber of Deputies opposed to the ruling Colorado Party. Its candidate in the presidential election, Guillermo Caballero Vargas, received 24.1% of the vote. Their candidate for the vice-presidency, María Victoria Brusquetti, was the first ever woman to run for the position.^[3]

For the 1998 general elections the party formed an alliance with the PLRA named the Democratic Alliance, with the party's president, Carlos Filizzola, providing the alliance's vice-presidential candidate. However, the PEN was reduced to eight seats in the Chamber and seven in the Senate as the Colorado Party regained their majority in both houses, and the alliance's presidential candidate, Domingo Laino finished second with 43.9% of the vote.^[4][5] In 2000 Filizzola, who had been the party's president from April 1996 to March 1999, led his Movimiento Participación Amplia, Integración Solidaridad (PAIS) faction out of the party to form the Party for a Country of Solidarity.^[5]

By the 2003 elections support for the party had dwindled, and it won only one seat in the Senate and none in the Chamber of Deputies, whilst its presidential candidate, Diego Abente Brun received just 0.6% of the vote. For the 2008 elections the party joined the Patriotic Alliance for Change, which won two seats in the Chamber.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election	Party candidate	Votes	%	Result
1993	Guillermo Caballero Vargas	262,407	24.39%	Lost N
1998	Supported Domingo Laíno (PLRA)	703,379	43.88%	Lost N
2003	Diego Abente Brun	8,745	0.58%	Lost N
2008	Supported Fernando Lugo (PDC)	766,502	42.40%	Elected Y

Chamber of Deputies elections

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
1993	199,053	17.7%	9 / 80	9
1998	681,917 (as part of Democratic Alliance)	42.8%	35 / 80	26
2003	39,372	2.7%	0 / 80	35
2008	14,227	0.80%	0 / 80
2013	108,662	4.84%	2 / 80	2
2018	75,514	3.18%	2 / 80

Senate elections

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
1993	203,213	17.9%	8 / 80	8
1998	661,764 (as part of Democratic Alliance)	42.1%	20 / 45	12
2003	31,212	2.1%	1 / 45	19
2008	20,843	1.19%	0 / 45
2013	78,460	3.49%	1 / 45	1
2018	30,365	1.29%	0 / 45	1

Notes

The Democratic Alliance was an alliance of the Authentic Radical Liberal Party and the National Encounter Party