Calle Genova, 13
28004 Madrid

Phone Numbers: 319-40-08
               319-29-27

President: Jose Maria Aznar Lopez

Founded in October 1976, under the name of the Popular Alliance (Alianza Popular), as a result of the merge of seven political groups around the figure of Manuel Fraga Iribarne, it has been the largest opposition party since 1982. Conservative in ideology, it occupies the centre-right space in the Spanish political spectrum.

However, it made a very modest start, since in the first general election (June 1977) it obtained only 16 seats in Congress, while in the 1979 election, when it put up candidates in coalition with other parties under the name of the Popular Coalition, it only secured 9 seats in Congress and 3 in the Senate. In 1982, also as the Popular Coalition, it obtained 106 seats in Congress and 54 in the Senate, thus taking shape as the principal oppsition party, a situation which was maintained in the 1986 election, with 105 deputies and 63 senators.

In the general election of 1989, in which it took part under the name of the Popular Party, it obtained 106 seats in Congress and 77 in the Senate, and in the 1993 election, it obtained 141 deputies and 106 senators, thus confirming its status as the chief opposition party.

In its short history it has, however, had serious internal problems, first in getting rid of figures ideologically close to Francoism; and subsequently, with the changes after the resignation of Manuel Fraga and his replacement as president of the party by Antonio Hernandez Mancha and, as a result of the 1989 election, the return of Manuel Fraga to the chairmanship of the party, followed by the appointment of Jose Maria Aznar, in what is regarded as the "re-founding" of the party.

For more information, please write to:

POPULAR PARTY (PP)

Genova, 13
28004 MADRID (Spain)