The Conservative Party is a conservative 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 Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

.
The party's colour is green

Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...

 and its emblem is a torch of freedom in a circle. Its slogan is “Dios, Orden, Justicia” ("God, Order, Justice"), often depicted on the three sides of a triangle

Triangle

A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....

.

History

The conservative party is the oldest currently existing political party in Nicaragua. It was founded during the late 1830s, as Nicaragua established itself as an independent republic, by members of the elite of Granada

Granada, Nicaragua

Granada is a city in western Nicaragua and the capital of the Granada Department. With an estimated population of 110,326 , it is Nicaragua's fourth most populous city. Granada is historically one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically...

. As in many Latin American countries, a major political conflict took place between conservatives and liberals. During the 1840s and 1850s a nearly constant civil war took place between conservatives and liberals in Nicaragua. In 1857 the conservatives won, and dominated the country for 35 years.

In 1893 the conservative party split, and the liberals took advantage of this to make a successful rebellion. The conservative party returned to power in 1910, following the intervention of American troops. It remained in power until another liberal rebellion in 1926, and a coalition government was established.

Factions of the conservative party, along with factions of the liberal party, helped Anastasio Somoza Garcia

Anastasio Somoza García

Anastasio Somoza García was officially the President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 1950 to 29 September 1956, but ruled effectively as dictator from 1936 until his assassination.-Biography:Somoza was born in San Marcos, Carazo Department in Nicaragua, the son of...

 to gain power. Somoza established his own party, the Nationalist Liberal Party, and though the Somoza regime was overthrown in 1979, the conservative party has never recovered the amount of power that it had during previous times. Many conservatives, however, vigorously opposed the Somoza regime, and for the 1967 elections formed a 1966 National Opposition Union

National Opposition Union

National Opposition Union was a wide-range cartel of opposition parties formed to contest Nicaragua's president Daniel Ortega in 1990 election. Its candidate Violeta Chamorro eventually won the race...

 with other parties opposed to the Somoza regime. In the first elections after the Revolution, in 1984, the Conservatives finished runner-up behind the FSLN. In 1990 the Conservative Party joined the United Nicaraguan Opposition

United Nicaraguan Opposition

The United Nicaraguan Opposition was a Nicaraguan rebel umbrella group formed in 1985, led by the triumvirate of Adolfo Calero, Alfonso Robelo, and Arturo Cruz...

 to successfully oppose the Sandinista National Liberation Front

Sandinista National Liberation Front

The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas in both English and Spanish...

 in elections. Following the rapid collapse of that party, the conservatives became the third largest political force in the country, but much smaller than the Sandinistas or the Constitutional Liberal Party

Constitutional Liberal Party

The Constitutionalist Liberal Party is an opposition political party in Nicaragua. At the legislative elections, held on 5 November 2006, the party won 25 of 92 seats in the National Assembly....

.
At the legislative elections

Elections in Nicaragua

Elections in Nicaragua gives information on elections and election results in Nicaragua.The Republic of Nicaragua elects on national level a head of state – the president – and a legislature. The President of Nicaragua and his or her vice-president are elected on one ballot for a...

, held on 4 November 2001, the party won 2.1% of the popular vote and 2 out of 90 seats in the National Assembly. The same day, Alberto Saborío won only 1.4% in the presidential elections. In the 2006 election it became part of a coalition with the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance

Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance

The Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance is a political party in Nicaragua. It was started in 2005 by Eduardo Montealegre and other members of the Constitutional Liberal Party who opposed former President of the country Arnoldo Alemán's continued control of the PLC even after he had been found guilty of...

.

Current status

In 2006 the conservative party joined another coalition party, the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance

Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance

The Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance is a political party in Nicaragua. It was started in 2005 by Eduardo Montealegre and other members of the Constitutional Liberal Party who opposed former President of the country Arnoldo Alemán's continued control of the PLC even after he had been found guilty of...

 to support the former Constitutional Liberal politician Eduardo Montealegre

Eduardo Montealegre

Eduardo Montealegre is a Nicaraguan politician. He ran for president in the 2006 general election as the candidate of the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance a spin-off of the Constitutional Liberal Party in alliance with other liberal parties and the Conservative Party...

in its presidential campaign, which was unsuccessful.
The conservatives also supported and participated with the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance in the congressional elections, in which the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance came in third place but won nearly as many seats as the Constitutional Liberal Party.