Social Encounter Party

Not to be confused with Solidarity Encounter Party, established after the closure of this party.

Social Encounter Party Partido Encuentro Social
President	Hugo Eric Flores Cervantes
Founded	30 October 2006 (regional) 9 July 2014 (national)
Dissolved	3 September 2018 (national level)
Succeeded by	Solidarity Encounter Party
Headquarters	Mexico City
Ideology	Ultraconservatism[1][2] Conservatism[3] Social conservatism[4] Christian right[5][6]
Political position	Right-wing[4] to far-right[7]
Colors	Indigo
Chamber of Deputies	0 / 500
Senate	0 / 128
Governorships	0 / 32
Politics of Mexico Political parties Elections

Social Encounter Party (Spanish: Partido Encuentro Social, PES) was a Mexican conservative political party established on the national level in 2014^[8] and dissolved in 2018. It was part of the coalition Juntos Haremos Historia with the National Regeneration Movement and Mexico's Labor Party for the 2018 Mexican election.

It preceded the Solidarity Encounter Party, established as its replacement in 2019 and granted national party status in 2020.

History

The Social Encounter Party was founded in 2006 by Dr. Hugo Eric Flores Cervantes, a pastor of a Neo-Pentecostal church that supported Felipe Calderón in the 2006 presidential election.^[9] It had previously been a "national political grouping", which does not receive public funding.^[10] The party made many of its early successes in the state of Baja California. In 2007, it supported the successful candidacy of José Guadalupe Osuna Millán of the PAN, but in 2013, it allied with the PRI in Baja California instead, which led it to elect a state deputy to a district in Tecate and four council members in Tijuana.^[10][11]

In July 2014, it obtained federal registry. After doing so, eight of its nine political assemblies were nullified, as bribes were given to attendees.^[11]

The party was primarily composed of Evangelical Christians, though it has declared itself as "not religious" in character.^[12]

2015 Mexican legislative elections

The 2015 legislative elections was the first election where PES participated at a federal level. It managed to obtain eight proportional representation seats in the Chamber of Deputies as a result of obtaining 3.3 percent of the vote.

2018 Mexican general elections

See also: Juntos Haremos Historia and Opinion polling for the 2018 Mexican general election

The 2018 Mexican general election was the first general election where the PES participated with a candidate aspiring for the presidency, as the party formed a coalition with left-wing National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and Labor Party (PT). The parties nominated Andrés Manuel López Obrador as their presidential candidate.^[13]

Coalition with MORENA

On 24 June 2017, the PT approved to stand for election in 2018 in an electoral alliance with MORENA; however the coalition was not officially registered before the National Electoral Institute, the electoral authorities of the country. For MORENA, the alliance was facilitated as a result of Óscar González Yáñez, the PT gubernatorial candidate in the State of Mexico, withdrawing from the race and endorsing MORENA candidate Delfina Gómez Álvarez.^[14][15][16]

At first, there was speculation about the possibility of a front grouping all the leftist parties: MORENA, PRD, PT and Citizens' Movement (MC). However, Andrés Manuel López Obrador rejected any kind of agreement due to political differences, especially after the elections in the State of Mexico, when the candidates of the PRD and MC continued with their campaigns refusing to support the candidate of MORENA.^[17] At the end of November 2017, the leaders of MORENA and the PES announced that they were in talks to form a possible alliance. In this sense, Hugo Eric Flores said, "We don't negotiate with the PRI, we have two options, go alone or with MORENA."^[18]

Confirmation

On December 13, the coalition between MORENA, the PT and the PES was formalized under the name Juntos Haremos Historia (English: Together we will make history).^[19] Following the signing of the agreement, Andrés Manuel López Obrador was appointed as a pre-candidate for the three political formations.^[20] It was a partial coalition that promoted López Obrador as a presidential candidate and, with respect to the legislative elections: MORENA was assigned to choose candidates in 150 federal electoral districts and 32 districts to the Senate; PT was assigned to choose 75 deputies and 16 senators, and the PES was assigned to choose 75 deputies and 16 senators.^{[21][22][needs update]}

The alliance has received criticism^{[from whom?]} as it was a coalition between two leftist parties (MORENA and the PT) with a formation related to the evangelical right (PES).^[23] In response, the national president of MORENA, Yeidckol Polevnsky, mentioned that her party believes in inclusion, joint work to "rescue Mexico" and that they will continue to defend human rights,^[24] while Hugo Eric Flores Cervantes, national president of the PES, mentioned that "the only possibility of real change in our country is the one headed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador" and that his party had decided to be "on the right side of history."^[25]

Results and dissolution

The results for the Juntos Haremos Historia coalition were strong; López Obrador was elected president in a landslide victory, as well as winning five of the nine state governorships (one of them for PES candidate Cuauhtémoc Blanco in Morelos), and the coalition resulted in the election of 55 federal deputies and 7 senators belonging to the party.^[26] However, the party failed to attract three percent of the vote in the elections for president, federal deputies, and senators, which under Mexican law prompts the loss of its federal registry and the appointment of a liquidator by the INE to dispose of the national party's assets.^[27] The PES and New Alliance Party, the other party to lose its registry after the 2018 elections, challenged the results to no avail and on 3 September 2018, the party was dissolved as it had not reached the 3% of the national vote.^[28][29]

Reincarnation in 2020

Main article: Solidarity Encounter Party

PES was reborn as the Solidarity Encounter Party (Partido Encuentro Solidario), using the same initials, and granted preliminary recognition to participate in the 2021 Mexican legislative election on September 2, 2020.^[30]

Policy positions

The PES tended to include many strands of Christian humanist thought and was generally socially conservative, and Flores has stated that it was a "family" party.^[10][31] The Baja California state party used a stylized ichthys in its logo, which was not used by the national organization.^[3]

The party characterized itself as the "party of the family". It opposed same-sex marriage and was responsible for reforms to the Baja California constitution in 2008 that established marriage as "between one man and one woman".^[11] In 2015, the PES gubernatorial candidate in the state of San Luis Potosí compared homosexuality to drug trafficking and violence.^[32] Likewise, it opposed abortion and pornographic magazines.^[12]

Other proposals made by the PES included shifting the collection of value-added tax to the states instead of the federal government and consolidating it with income tax.^[33][why?]

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election year	Candidate	Votes	%	Outcome	Notes
2018	Andrés Manuel López Obrador	30,113,483	53.19%	Y Elected	From a different party of its coalition

Congressional elections

Chamber of Deputies

Election year	Constituency		PR		# of seats	Position	Presidency		Note
	votes	%	votes	%
2015	1,319,203	3.49	1,325,335	3.32	8 / 500	Minority	Enrique Peña Nieto
2018	1,056,918	2.41	1,353,941	2.40	56 / 500	Minority	Andrés Manuel López Obrador		Coalition: Juntos Haremos Historia
See Solidarity Encounter Party

Senate elections

Election year	Constituency		PR		# of seats	Position	Presidency		Note
	votes	%	votes	%
2018	1,038,325	2.35	1,320,559	2.33	8 / 128	Minority	Andrés Manuel López Obrador		Coalition: Juntos Haremos Historia
See Solidarity Encounter Party

See also

• National Action Party (Mexico)
• National Synarchist Union
• Politics of Mexico
• Evangelical political parties in Latin America

References

1. "Los evangélicos se aferran a López Obrador" [Evangelicals cling to Lopez Obrador] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2023-10-02.
2. Barranco, Bernardo (26 October 2018). AMLO y la tierra prometida: Análisis del proceso electoral 2018 y lo que viene [AMLO and the promised land: Analysis of the 2018 electoral process and what is to come] (in Spanish). Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial México. ISBN 9786073173452.
3. Siscar, Majo (2014-07-15). "Partido Encuentro Social, a favor de las familias tradicionales y contra el aborto". Animal Político. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
4. Garcia, David Alire (15 December 2017). "Mexico presidential race roiled as leftist front-runner embraces right wing party". Reuters. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
5. "Los evangélicos se aferran a López Obrador | Internacional | EL PAÍS". Archived from the original on 2018-07-10. Retrieved 2024-12-25.
6. Barranco, Bernardo (26 October 2018). AMLO y la tierra prometida: Análisis del proceso electoral 2018 y lo que viene. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial México. ISBN 9786073173452.
7. "México: Escándalo ante propuesta conservadora de la izquierda". 8 March 2012.
8. "Resolution INE/CG106/2014" (PDF). INE. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
9. Águilar, Rubén (2014-09-09). "Partido Encuentro Social (PES)". Animal Político. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
10. Condado, Arturo (2014-07-10). "Hay 3 nuevos partidos políticos en México, ¿pero quiénes son?". CNN México. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
11. "Nuevo "Partido Encuentro Social" luchará contra matrimonio gay". SDP Noticias. 2014-07-14. Archived from the original on 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2016-01-09.
12. Domínguez, Pedro (2014-02-10). ""No somos partido religioso, al contrario, somos liberales": dirigente de Encuentro Social". Milenio. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
13. "Con referencias bíblicas, AMLO asume candidatura del PES - Proceso". Archived from the original on 2018-02-23.
14. Digital, Milenio. "PT acuerda ir con Morena por la Presidencia en el 2018". Milenio. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
15. "Aprueba PT coalición con Morena en elecciones de 2018". SDPnoticias.com. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
16. "PRD avala "frente amplio" en 2018; PT se va con Morena (Documento)". aristeguinoticias.com. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
17. "Prd amlo alianza 2018". www.animalpolitico.com. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
18. "No negociaremos con el PRI; vamos solos o con Morena: PES". Excélsior. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
19. "Partido del Trabajo y Encuentro Social anuncian coalición con Morena". Expansión. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
20. "Morena y Encuentro Social oficializan su unión rumbo a 2018". 13 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
21. Redacción (13 December 2017). "Morena, PT y Encuentro Social firman coalición rumbo a elección de 2018". El Financiero. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
22. Zavala, Misael (13 December 2017). "Firman acuerdo Morena, PES y PT para ir en coalición". El Universal. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
23. Camhaji, Elías (13 December 2017). "López Obrador se alía con el conservador Encuentro Social para las elecciones de 2018". El País. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
24. "En Morena creemos en la inclusión: Yeidckol ante las críticas por alianza con el PES". El Financiero Bloomberg. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017 – via YouTube.
25. "La única opción para cambiar el país es la que encabeza AMLO: Hugo Eric Flores". El Financiero Bloomberg. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2017 – via YouTube.
26. Corona, Sonia (9 July 2018). "Los evangélicos se aferran a López Obrador". El País. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
27. Suárez, Alejandro (9 July 2018). "Panal y PES pierden registro; INE inicia proceso de liquidación". El Sol de México. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
28. "El Partido Encuentro Social desaparece tras los resultados electorales". Protestante Digital. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
29. "INE aprueba pérdida de registro de Nueva Alianza y Encuentro Social". El Economista. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
30. Saldierna, Georgina (4 September 2020). "Tras fuerte debate, INE da registro a Encuentro Solidario - Política - La Jornada". jornada.com.mx (in Spanish). La Jornada. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
31. "Somos el partido de la familia". Encuentro Social. Retrieved October 28, 2017.
32. "Gays y solteras embarazadas dañan la familia, dice candidato". Excélsior. 2015-03-31. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
33. Moncada, Arturo (2014-11-18). "Partido Encuentro Social busca representación en San Lázaro". Vértigo Político. Retrieved 2016-01-09.

External links

• Social Encounter Party website
• Social Encounter Party Facebook
• Social Encounter Party Twitter
• Social Encounter Party YouTube
• Social Encounter Party Google +