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Spain Popular Alliance
The Popular Alliance (Alianza Popular--AP) was a
conservative
right-wing party founded in 1976 by former Franco
ministers under
the leadership of Fraga, who had helped to prepare the way
for
reform during the Franco era and who had expected to play
a key
role in post-Franco governments. He underestimated the
popular
desire for change and distaste for Francoism, and he
advocated an
extremely gradual transition to democracy. Although Fraga
had
originally intended to convey a reformist image, his party
was
perceived by the electorate as both reactionary and
authoritarian. Fraga's own outbursts of temper and the
close ties
of many of the AP candidates to the previous regime
contributed
to this perception. When elections were held in June 1977,
the AP
garnered only 8.3 percent of the vote.
In the months following the 1977 elections, dissension
erupted within the AP over constitutional issues that
arose as
the draft document was being formulated. The more
reactionary
members voted against the draft constitution, and they
advocated
a shift to the right. Fraga, however, wanted to move the
AP
toward the political center in order to form a larger
centerright party. Most of the disenchanted reactionaries left
the AP,
and Fraga and the remaining AP members joined other more
moderately conservative party leaders to form the
Democratic
Coalition (Coalicion Democratica--CD). It was hoped that
this new
coalition would capture the support of those who had voted
for
the UCD in 1977, but who had become disenchanted with the
Suarez
government. When elections were held in March 1979,
however, the
CD received only 6.1 percent of the vote. Deeply
disappointed,
Fraga resigned as head of his party.
By the time of the AP's Third Party Congress in
December
1979, party leaders were reassessing their involvement in
the CD.
Many felt that the creation of the coalition had merely
confused
the voters, and they sought to emphasize the AP's
independent
identity. Fraga resumed control of the party, and the
political
resolutions adopted by the party congress reaffirmed the
conservative orientation of the AP.
In the early 1980s, Fraga succeeded in rallying the
various
components of the right around his leadership. He was
aided in
his efforts to revive the AP by the increasing
disintegration of
the UCD. In the general elections held in October 1982,
the AP
gained votes both from previous UCD supporters and from
the far
right, and it became the major opposition party, securing
25.4
percent of the popular vote. Whereas the AP's
parliamentary
representation had dropped to 9 seats in 1979, the party
allied
itself with the small right-wing PDP and won 106 seats in
1982.
The increased strength of the AP was further evidenced in
the
municipal and regional elections held in May 1983, when
the party
drew 26 percent of the vote. A significant portion of the
electorate appeared to support the AP's emphasis on law
and order
as well as its probusiness policies.
Subsequent political developments belied the party's
aspirations to continue increasing its base of support.
Prior to
the June 1986 elections, the AP once again joined forces
with the
PDP, and along with the PL, formed the CP, in another
attempt to
expand its constituency to include the center of the
political
spectrum. The coalition called for stronger measures
against
terrorism, for more privatization, and for a reduction in
spending and in taxes. The CP failed to increase its share
of the
vote in the 1986 elections, however, and it soon began to
disintegrate.
When regional elections in late 1986 resulted in
further
losses for the coalition, Fraga resigned as AP president,
although he retained his parliamentary seat. At the party
congress in February 1987, Hernandez was chosen to head
the AP,
declaring that under his leadership the AP would become a
"modern
right-wing European party." But Hernandez lacked political
experience at the national level, and the party continued
to
decline. When support for the AP plummeted in the
municipal and
regional elections held in June 1987, there was increased
likelihood that it would be overtaken as major opposition
party
by Suarez's CDS.
Data as of December 1988
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