Christian Democratic Party (El Salvador)

Christian Democratic Party Partido Demócrata Cristiano
Abbreviation	PDC
Leader	Reinaldo Carballo
Founded	25 November 1960; 63 years ago (1960-11-25)
Headquarters	Alameda Juan Pablo II & Once Ave Norte Bis Número 507, San Salvador, El Salvador
Ideology	Christian democracy
Political position	Center to center-left
Regional affiliation	Center-Democratic Integration Group
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International
Colors	Green
Seats in the Legislative Assembly	1 / 60
Municipalities	4 / 44
Seats in PARLACEN	1 / 20
Website
Archived website
Politics of El Salvador Political parties Elections

The Christian Democratic Party (Spanish: Partido Demócrata Cristiano, abbreviated PDC) is a Salvadoran political party. From 2011 to 2012, the party was renamed to Party of Hope (Partido de la Esperanza, abbreviated PES) before reverting to the Christian Democratic Party. The PDC has been led by Reinaldo Carballo since 2023.

The PDC was founded in November 1960 in opposition of the Salvadoran military government, but in 1961, some members of the PDC left the party to form the National Conciliation Party (PCN) which would become the military's ruling party. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the PDC participated in various presidential and legislative elections which were marked by electoral fraud in the PCN's favor. In January 1980, following a coup d'état the year prior which overthrew the PCN's government, the PDC became involved in the ruling Revolutionary Government Junta. In December 1980, José Napoleón Duarte, a founding member of the PDC and former 1972 presidential candidate, was appointed as the president of the JRG. After leaving office in 1982, Duarte was elected president in 1984. The PDC failed to win the presidency in the succeeding 1989 presidential election, and as of 2024, Duarte remains the only president of El Salvador to have been a member of the PDC while in office.

Christian democracy has been the PDC's principle ideology since its establishment, but before and during the Salvadoran Civil War, the Salvadoran political right alleged that the party had communist sympathies. The party has been placed on the center to center-left of the political spectrum. The party's primary color is green and its logo is an ichthys.