Regionalist Party of Cantabria

Infobox_Political_Party
party_name = Cantabrian Regionalist Party
colorcode = #013068
party_
leader = Miguel Ángel Revilla Roiz
foundation = 1978
ideology = Regionalist
Centrist
headquarters = Santander
colours = Red, White, Green
members = 7,000
european =
international =
website = [http://www.prc.es Official Site]

The Regionalist Party of Cantabria (Partido Regionalista de Cantabria, PRC), is the second oldest political party in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Cantabria. The PRC originated in the Association in Defense of the Interests of Cantabria (ADIC), founded on May 14 ,1976, with the objective of promoting Cantabrian autonomy.

The PRC was officially formed on November 10, 1978, under the leadership of Miguel Ángel Revilla Roiz, Manuel Izquierdo Nozal, Jose Luis Oria Toribio, Eduardo Obregón Barreda, and Juan Jose García González. Months later, in 1979, the PRC participated for the first time in general elections, presenting candidates for the Spanish Senate and on April 3 of that same year went to the municipal elections with a clear goal: to obtain the representation necessary to demand from the city councils autonomy for Cantabria.

The first Regional Congress of the party took place on December 8 and December 9, 1979 in Puente Viesgo, where the General Statutes, an ideological communication, another one about municipal inteventions and a third one about agrarian policy, in addition to a project of Autonomy Statute of Cantabria [http://www.congreso.es/constitucion/estatutos/ind_estatutos.jsp?com=69] were approved.

The following Congress was held in 1982 when Eduardo Obregón Barreda was chosen as General Secretary. On May 8, 1983, on the occasion of the regional and municipal elections, the PRC gained representation in the Parliament of Cantabria with two deputies and obtained 63 councillors.

In 1985, Eduardo Obregón Barreda revalidates his position of Secretary General in the third Regional Congress and two years later, on June 10, 1987, the PRC increased their institutional representation, obtaining 5 deputies in the Parliament of Cantabria and 102 councillors in the different city councils of the region. That same day European elections took place, where the party obtained 14,553 votes.

In the fourth Regional Congress, on March 20, 1988, Miguel Ángel Revilla was elected to the General Secretariat for the first time , and has held the post since then, with the ratification of the successive congresses, held on November 9, 1991, on November 13, 1994, on November 8, 1998 and on November 17, 2002.

30 April 1988, was another important date in the trajectory of the PRC, due to its participation as an observer in a work group of regionalist parties in Valencia. The group planned a joint project and to present a united candidacy to the European elections of the following year.

This work group included Navarrese People's Union, Aragonese Party, Valencian Union, Progressive Riojan Party, Majorcan Union, United Extremadura and United City of Melilla, in addition to the Regionalist Party of Cantabria, which was integrated , in June, as a member of the platform and a year later stood for the elections to European Parliament, comprising the candidacy of the Federation of Regionalist Parties (FPR). Since then, relationships have been maintained between the different regionalist parties that exist in Spain.

The following autonomous and municipal elections, on May 26, 1991, saw the PRC keep its representation in the Parliament of Cantabria, with two deputies and in the different municipalities, with a total of 69 councillors. They improved upon these results in the following elections on May 28, 1995, with 88 councillors and 6 seats, that allowed the access of the party, for the first time in their history, to the Government of Cantabria, occupying the Vice-presidency and Councils of Public Works, Culture and Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.

The elections held on 13 June 1999 resulted in a new advance in regionalist institutional representation. The PRC maintained its 6 deputies in the Parliament of Cantabria and increased its presence in the municipalities to 213 councillors, including 23 mayors. The electoral results were seen by the PRC as support for their policy to build a Cantabrian Motorway in order to end Cantabria's isolation from central Spain.

In the elections to the autonomous community, on May 25, 2003, the PRC was the party that underwent the greatest growth in number of votes, exactly 60 percent more than in the previous elections of 1999 and the only one that increased its parliamentary representation, rising from 6 to 8 seats.

Later, on June 5, 2003, the Regionalist Party subscribed to a Coalition Pact with the Spanish Socialist Workers Party for legislature 2003-2007 and its General Secretary, Miguel Ángel Revilla Roiz, was chosen to be President of the Government of Cantabria.

In the last Spanish regional elections, on May 27, 2007, PRC underwent a new increase of votes, at the expense of the other two national parties, increasing its representation from 8 to 12 seats. The Coalition Pact with the Spanish Socialist Workers Party gave the presidency to the regionalist Miguel Ángel Revilla again.

Cantabrian Parliament elections