The Christian Democratic Party is a political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in El Salvador

El Salvador

El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

.
In the legislative elections

Salvadoran legislative election, 2003

The 2003 Salvadoran legislative election took place in El Salvador on 16 March 2003 to elect 84 deputies to the Legislative Assembly for a term of three years. The main opposition party, the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front , won the most seats in election at 31...

, held on 16 March 2003, the party won 7.3% of the popular vote and 5 out of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly

Legislative Assembly of El Salvador

The Legislative Assembly is the legislative branch of the government of El Salvador.The Salvadoran legislature is a unicameral body....

. In the presidential election

Salvadoran presidential election, 2004

A presidential election was held in El Salvador on Sunday, 21 March 2004. The Salvadoran people elected a new president, together with his vice-president, for a five-year term.Antonio "Tony" Saca of the ARENA party won the election...

 of 21 March 2004, the PDC supported Héctor Silva Argüello of the United Democratic Centre, who won 3% of the vote. In the 12 March 2006 legislative election

Salvadoran legislative election, 2006

A legislative election was held in El Salvador on 12 March 2006. The Salvadoran people elected 84 deputies to the Legislative Assembly for a term of three years.-Election results:...

, the party won 6.8% of the popular vote and 6 out of 84 seats. The party had a similar level of support for the 2009 legislative elections

Salvadoran legislative election, 2009

A parliamentary election was held in El Salvador on 18 January 2009. The leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front was widely expected to win the most seats for the first time against the nationalist conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance...

, winning 6% of the vote and 5 seats.

History

The Christian Democratic Party is the longest lasting of El Salvador's two leading parties. It was the left-of-center party while the Party of National Conciliation was right-of-center. With the rise of more socialist and communist parties in El Salvador, it became more of a centrist party. During the civil war, many leaders of the PDC who were more left-leaning were killed or disappeared, and the party moved to the right.

In 1989 Christian Democrat José Napoleón Duarte

José Napoleón Duarte

José Napoleón Duarte Fuentes was a Salvadoran political figure who, from March 3, 1980, to 1982, led the civil-military Revolutionary Government Junta that took power in a 1979 coup d'état...

 was the first Salvadoran president to democratically hand over power to a successor. The party's position has since shrunk with the rise of ARENA

Nationalist Republican Alliance

The Nationalist Republican Alliance is a conservative political party in El Salvador. It was founded on September 30, 1981, by Roberto D'Aubuisson, in order to oppose the reformist military junta that was ruling El Salvador at the time...

 and FMLN

Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front

The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations...

.

However, since no party holds a majority in the legislature, it can be seen as effectively holding the balance of power. It often sides with ARENA and supported their effort to ratify the Central American Free Trade Agreement and pass a law supposedly aimed at fighting terrorism.

They struggled to pick a presidential candidate for 2009. The vice presidential candidate lives in the United States and has campaigned promising to give Salvadorans abroad the opportunity to vote in future presidential elections.

While the party was technically to be disbanded after the 2004 election, in which its candidate did not gather the necessary 3% of the vote, it was allowed to hold onto its registration by decree; this decree was declared unconstitutional on 30 April 2011, and the party was thus disbanded.