The party was founded on May 20, 1998, by Ricardo Martinelli, owner of the Super 99 supermarket chain. At the end of 2013 the party listed more than 500,000 members, making it one of Panama's two largest parties with a membership almost equal to that of the Democratic Revolutionary Party.[11]
In the legislativeelections of May 3, 2009, the party won 23.4% of the popular vote and 14 out of 78 seats. In the presidential elections of the same year, the party leader, Ricardo Martinelli, was elected President of Panama with 59.97% of the vote.
In January 2018, Rómulo Roux was elected as president of the party in place of Martinelli, who was detained in a federal prison in Miami at that time for corruption charges.[13] Martinelli would later leave the party in 2020 after disputes over party leadership.
The party's populist platform includes the support for a strong welfare state, notably programs like Cien a los Setenta for those older than 70 years old and Beca Universal for schoolchildren, mixed with free-market capitalism (similar to a social market economy). This includes measures to attract tourism and business through tax incentives as well as infrastructure investments, such as the expansion of the Panama Canal, highways and airports.
^ abJohnson, Stephen (9 September 2011), Minor Meltdown in Panama, Center for Strategic and International Studies, archived from the original on 2013-12-21
^ abSullivan, Mark P. (2 February 2011), Panama: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations, Congressional Research Service, p. 1
^Freedom House (2011), "Country Report: Panama", Freedom in the World 2011: The Annual Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties, Rowman & Littlefield, p. 519
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