National Advancement Party

National Advancement Party Partido de Avanzada Nacional
Founder	Álvaro Arzú
Presidential candidate 2007	Óscar Casteñeda
Presidential candidate 2003	Leonel López Rodas
Presidential candidate 1999	Óscar Berger
Presidential candidate 1995	Álvaro Arzú
Presidential candidate 1990	Álvaro Arzú
Founded	1989
Regional affiliation	Union of Latin American Parties
Congress	Seats won/Total
2008-2012	4 / 158
2004-2008	17 / 158
2000-2004	30 / 91
1996-2000	17 / 64
Politics of Guatemala Political parties Elections

The National Advancement Party (Spanish: Partido de Avanzada Nacional) is a political party in Guatemala. It was founded in 1989.

In the 1990 and 1995 elections its presidential candidate was Álvaro Arzú who won in 1995, becoming Guatemala's 32nd president (1996-2000). Óscar Berger ran as the party's presidential candidate in the 1999 Guatemalan General Election becoming the runner-up in 1999. After wining PAN’s presidential candidacy in late 2002, he was going to run as the party's presidential candidate in the 2003 Guatemalan General Election. However, internal divisions plagued the party and Óscar Berger decided to leave PAN and enter the second round of the 2003 presidential elections as the candidate for the Gran Alianza Nacional (GANA), an alliance of 3 parties including Partido Patriota (PP), Movimiento Reformador (MR) and Partido Solidaridad Nacional (PSN).

At the legislative elections, held on 9 November 2003, the party won 10.9% of the popular vote and 17 out of 158 seats in Congress. The party's presidential candidate, Leonel López Rodas, won 8.4% in the presidential elections held on the same day; duly eliminated, he did not compete in the second round.

At the 2007 elections the party was badly defeated, but still received representation in Congress with 4.58% of the vote and four seats. Its presidential candidate, Óscar Casteñeda, received 2.56% of the vote.

External links

• PAN WEBSITE