Popular Action (Peru)

Popular Action
Acción Popular
AbbreviationAP
PresidentJulio Chávez Chiong
General SecretaryEdmundo del Águila
FounderFernando Belaúnde
Founded7 July 1956 (1956-07-07)
Preceded byDemocratic Youth Front
HeadquartersLima
Ideology
Political position
Anthem"Popular Action March"[3]
Congress
0 / 130
Governorships
0 / 25
Regional Councillors
6 / 342
Province Mayorships
3 / 196
District Mayorships
61 / 1,874
Website
accionpopular.com.pe
^ A: Some sources have described the position to still be centre-left.[4]

Popular Action (Spanish: Acción Popular, AP) is a conservative, populist, and reformist political party in Peru, founded by former Peruvian president Fernando Belaúnde.

History

Early history

Fernando Belaúnde founded Popular Action (Acción Popular) in 1956 as a reformist alternative to the status quo conservative forces and the populist American Popular Revolutionary Alliance party.

Although Belaúnde's message was not all that different from APRA's, his tactics were more inclusive and less confrontational. He was able to appeal to some of the same political base as APRA, primarily the middle class, but also to a wider base of professionals and white-collar workers. It also advocated scientific advancement and technocracy, a policy set that it took from the Progressive Social Movement, a splinter party which it eventually absorbed.[5] The AP had significant electoral success, attaining the presidency in 1963 and 1980, but the party was more of an electoral machine for the persona of Belaúnde than an institutionalized organization. The AP was initially reckoned as a center-left party. However, by the 1980s, Peru's political spectrum had shifted sharply leftward, and the AP found itself on the center-right.

Later years

After AP's second administration, in 1985, the party was defeated by the APRA party, gaining only 6.4 percent of the vote. In 1990, AP participated in the elections as a part of the Democratic Front, a center-right coalition headed by Mario Vargas Llosa.

In 2000, Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde was selected as the presidential nominee, being the worst general election for AP, gaining only 0.42% of the popular vote. Only three AP congressman were elected. As many assume the election was a fraud, Fujimori resigned after the corruption of his government was revealed by the opposition.

AP member Valentín Paniagua would become President of the Congress in November 2000 for a few days and, after the fall of the Fujimori administration, became the interim President of the Republic, holding office from November 2000 to July 2001.

In the 8 April 2001 election, the party won 4.2% of the popular vote and three out of 120 seats in Congress.

Likewise, in 2002, regional elections were held for the first time, which aimed to elect Regional Presidents for the 25 departments of Peru. In that sense, party participation was quite high (15 political groups). In these elections, AP ranked sixth by number of votes.[6]

For the 2006 national election, the party joined forces with We Are Peru and National Coordinator of Independents to form the Centre Front coalition. Paniagua was the presidential candidate, while the vice-presidential candidates belonged to AP's allies. The Center Front ended in the fifth place in the national election, with 5.6% of the popular vote.

For the 2011 national election, the party joined forces with We Are Peru and Possible Peru to form the Possible Peru Electoral Alliance. The presidential candidate was former Peru's president and leader of Possible Peru, Alejandro Toledo. The alliance ended in the fourth place in the national election, with 15.6% of the popular vote.

For the 2016 national election, the party ran alone for the first time since 2000, when Congressman Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde ran against the sitting president Alberto Fujimori, and it was the first time since 2006 that Popular Action participated with a party member as a presidential candidate when former President Valentín Paniagua ran for office. The presidential candidate was Alfredo Barnechea, journalist and political analyst, who won the party's primaries with 52% of the votes, defeating Mesías Guevara (40%), the party's president for the 2014–2018 term, the lawyer Beatríz Mejía (6%) and former Deputy Alejandro Montoya (2%). Popular Action ended in fourth place in the national election, with 6.97% of the popular vote. This was the best result for Popular Action since 1985. For the 2016–2021 term, AP had five congressmen out of 130 representing the party, until the snap election in 2020, when it increased its representation to 25 congressmen until the end of the 2016–2021 term. In the 2021 elections, Lescano placed 5th in a fractured race of 18 candidates while the party gained 16 seats for the 2021–2026 congressional term. On 26 July 2021, an alliance led by Popular Action member María del Carmen Alva successfully negotiated an agreement to gain control of Peru's Congress.[7]

Ideology and position

Popular Action has been as reformist,[13] nationalist,[16] populist,[19] catch all,[22] moderate,[26] paternalistically conservative,[28] conservative,[34] Catholic-based,[35] pro-capitalist,[25] pro-business,[36] neoliberal,[37] liberal,[39] and socially liberal.[40] It has been labeled on the political scale as centre-right,[42] centrist,[44] centre-left,[4] right-wing,[50] left-wing,[15] and radical left.[45]

Electoral history

Presidential

Election Candidate First round Second round Result
Votes % Votes %
1956 Fernando Belaúnde 457,966 36.69 Lost N
1962 Fernando Belaúnde 544,180 32.21 Lost N
1963 Fernando Belaúnde 708,662 39.05 Won Y
1980 Fernando Belaúnde 1,793,190 44.93 Won Y
1985 Javier Alva Orlandini 472,627 7.26 Lost N
1990 Mario Vargas Llosa[a] 2,163,323 32.57 2,708,291 37.62 Lost N
1995 Raúl Diez Canseco 122,383 1.64 Lost N
2000 Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde 46,523 0.42 Lost N
2001 Did not contest N/A
2006 Valentín Paniagua[b] 706,156 5.75 Lost N
2011 Alejandro Toledo[c] 2,289,561 15.63 Lost N
2016 Alfredo Barnechea 1,069,360 6.97 Lost N
2021 Yonhy Lescano 1,306,288 9.07 Lost N
2026 Did not contest N/A
  1. ^ In coalition under Democratic Front
  2. ^ In coalition under Centre Front
  3. ^ In coalition under Possible Peru Electoral Alliance

Congress of the Republic

Election Leader Senate Chamber of Deputies Position Government
Votes % Seats +/– Votes % Seats +/–
1956 Fernando Belaúnde
5 / 53
21 / 182
 3rd Minority
1962
16 / 55
 11
61 / 186
 40 2nd Elections annulled
1963
15 / 45
 1
39 / 139
 22 2nd Minority government
1980 1,694,952 40.92
26 / 60
 11 1,413,233 38.92
98 / 180
 59 1st Majority
1985 492,056 8.14
5 / 61
 21 491,581 8.43
10 / 180
 88 4th Minority
1990 1,772,953 32.06
(FREDEMO)
20 / 62
 15 1,561,291 30.03
(FREDEMO)
62 / 180
 52 1st Minority
Election Leader Votes % Congress +/– Rank Government
1992 Fernando Belaúnde Boycotted
0 / 80
 62 19th Extra-parliamentary
1995 146,018 3.34
4 / 120
 4 6th Minority
2000 245,115 2.47
3 / 120
 1 9th Minority
2001 393,433 4.18
3 / 120
 0 7th Minority
2006 Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde 760,261 7.07
(FC)
5 / 120
 2 5th Minority
2011 Javier Alva Orlandini 1,904,180 14.83
(AEPP)
5 / 130
 1 3rd Minority
2016 Mesías Guevara 877,734 7.20
5 / 130
 0 6th Minority
2020 1,518,171 10.26
25 / 130
 20 1st Majority coalition
2021 1,159,734 9.02
16 / 130
 9 3rd Minority

References

  1. ^ "Case study: Peru" (PDF). resourcegovernance.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2024. Retrieved 10 June 2026. Founded in 1956 as a left-of-center political party with broad support until the 1980s, Acción Popular (AP) has since evolved into a center-right party with declining support.
  2. ^ Onis, Juan de (26 June 1969). "Peru's Army Veering Sharply Prom Conservatives". The New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2026. But when President Belaúnde was elected in 1963, with the blessings of the military leaders, as head of the moderate left-of-center Popular Action Party, an attempt was made to put through an effective agrarian reform.
  3. ^ "Marcha del Partido AP". accionpopular.com.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  4. ^ a b [21][30][40][45][46]
  5. ^ Hugo Neira, "Peru" in JP Bernard et al., Guide to the Political Parties of South America, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973, p. 443
  6. ^ "Elecciones Regionales" (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  7. ^ Aquino, Marco (26 July 2021). "Peru opposition to lead Congress in setback for socialist Castillo". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Popular Action". countrystudies.us. Archived from the original on 6 December 2025. Retrieved 7 April 2026.
  9. ^ "Popular Action (AP)". encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2026. Retrieved 7 April 2026.
  10. ^ a b Summer, Eva (16 February 2023). "Politics of Peru". LimaEasy. Archived from the original on 15 January 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026. Accion Popular (Popular Action) was founded in 1956 by former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry as a liberal and reformist political party.
  11. ^ "no title" (PDF). archives.gov. 29 December 1967. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 March 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2026. The Peruvian PDC formed a coalition with the Popular Actica (AP) Party in 1963; it currently holds two cabinet positions. ... both reformist parties, and thus should not be included in a listing of significant CD parties.
  12. ^ Burt, Jo-Marie (2007). Political Violence and the Authoritarian State in Peru. Silencing Civil Society/Springer Link. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-06486-8. ISBN 978-0-230-62117-6. Archived from the original on 21 April 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026. The next reformist challenge emerged in the 1950s, this time spearheaded by new middle-class parties, including Popular Action (AP), under the leadership of Fernando Belaúnde Terry, who would twice be elected president, and the Christian Democratic Party. However, these groups were similarly unable to culminate their efforts to reform the oligarchic state.
  13. ^ [8][9][10][11][12]
  14. ^ a b c d "The political framework of Peru - International Trade Portal". www.lloydsbanktrade.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026. - Popular Action (AP): centre to centre-right, reformism, nationalism, paternalistic conservatism
  15. ^ a b c d "PERU" (PDF). systemicpeace.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 September 2025. Retrieved 10 June 2026. Popular Action (AP) ― A moderate liberal party in Peru founded by Fernando Belaúnde in 1956 as a reformist alternative to the status quo conservative forces and the controversial American Popular Revolutionary Alliance party (APRA), the AP had most of its support in the middle class and promoted a leftist and nationalist agenda.
  16. ^ [14][15]
  17. ^ Kingston, Tom (27 June 1991). "A Fish Out of Water". granta.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2026. The negative image of 'old pols' could be effaced with our new programme, reforms that had nothing to do with the populism of Popular Action or the conservatism of the Christian Popular Party but that would be associated with a radical liberalism never before put forward in Peru.
  18. ^ a b "Comparative Study of Electoral Systems Module 5: Macro Report" (PDF). cses.org. 14 September 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  19. ^ [17][18]
  20. ^ a b c E. Caceres Booth, Julia. "The Persistence of the Fujimori Legacy in Peru". University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 19 September 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2026. On the same day that the Shining Path lit fire to the ballet boxes in Chushi, Fernando Belaúnde Terry was elected president and his center‐right party, Popular Action, gained a majority in congress. ... A constitutionalist from the centrist party Popular Action, Paniagua led a wide‐ranging group of technocrats that represented the left to the right of the Peruvian political spectrum during Peru's transition period.
  21. ^ a b c d "Acción Popular splits asunder". perusupportgroup.org.uk. 12 August 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2026. Traditionally it positioned itself on the centre-right around Belaunde's vague ideological stance of 'Peru as a doctrine'. But over recent years the party has been torn apart by those adopting, like Alva, a clearly right-wing position, and by others like Yonhy Lescano, its candidate in the 2021 elections, who seek to take a more centre-left role.
  22. ^ [18][20][21]
  23. ^ "REPUBLIC OF PERU". www.sec.gov. Archived from the original on 4 July 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2026. AP (Acción Popular or Popular Action). The AP supports a moderate reform program that emphasizes modernization and development through an activist public sector.
  24. ^ a b "Peru" (PDF). tile.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 January 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2026. These new middle sectors formed the social base for two new political parties—Popular Action (Action Popular—AP) and the Christian Democratic Party (Partido Democrata Cristiano PDC)—that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s to challenge the oligarchy with a moderate, democratic reform program.. ... In addition, whereas in the 1960s the AP was seen as a reformist party, by the 1980s—as Peru's political spectrum had shifted substantially to the left—the AP was positioned on the center-right.
  25. ^ a b Bebbington, Anthony (28 June 2018). "Mining, Political Settlements, and Inclusive Development in Peru | Governing Extractive Industries: Politics, Histories, Ideas | Oxford Academic". academic.oup.com. Oxford Academic. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198820932.003.0002. Archived from the original on 27 July 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2026. The 1963 election of Fernando Belaúnde Terry of the moderate Popular Action (Acción Popular, AP) party appeared to signal a new political realignment in favour of democratic reform and economic modernization within a capitalist economy.
  26. ^ [15][23][24][25]
  27. ^ Jorge I. Domínguez; Abraham F. Lowenthal. "Constructing DEMOCRATIC Governance" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 December 2025. Retrieved 10 June 2026. Libertad's activists were generally new to party politics. They brought new agendas of antistatism and "popular liberalism" that clashed with the "social- statism and Christian" doctrines of the PPC and with the paternalistic orientations of Belaúnde's Ac
  28. ^ [14][27]
  29. ^ P. Carlisle, Rodney. "Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right: Volume 1: The Left and Volume 2: The Right". sk.sagepub.com. Sage Publishing. doi:10.4135/9781412952408.n393. Retrieved 1 June 2026. Over the next few years, the military junta gave power to the conservative-based Popular Action Party (AP). The AP appealed to the landowning oligarchy's traditional and conservative viewpoints. Thus, the conservative right had found a powerful ally.
  30. ^ a b c M. Finn, Devin (25 May 2016). "CIVILIAN PARTICIPATION IN POLITICS AND VIOLENT REVOLUTION: IDEOLOGY, NETWORKS, AND ACTION IN PERU AND INDIA". Archived from the original on 6 December 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2026. In 1984 French sociologist Henri Favre wrote that no political party in Peru had achieved – or proposed – a popular framework for mobilization in Ayacucho. In the early 1980s, the national parties – Popular Action (AP), the Popular Christian Party (PPC), and the United Left (IU) – "shone for their absence" in the region.29 When in interviews I asked Ayacuchanos about the presence and activities of parties, peasant leaders and rural residents usually responded vaguely that they remember AP and APRA – both of which, at varying moments over the last decades, have achieved a range of center-left, centrist, or more conservative partisan positions.
  31. ^ Riding, Alan (1989). "PERU FIGHTS TO OVERCOME ITS PAST" (PDF). iachr.lls.edu. Retrieved 1 June 2026. The United Left coalition, which had finished second in the 1985 elections, was thrown onto the defensive by his radical populism. The conservative Popular Action and Popular Christian parties accepted that Peruvians were now predominantly leftist or left-of-center.
  32. ^ Zhang, Zhengxin. "Common People for Neoliberalism". arcgis.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2026. Retrieved 9 June 2026. One from the conservative Popular Action Party, and the other from the populist APRA Party, Belaunde and Garcia together represented two ends of the new democratic political system.
  33. ^ John Neagle. "Peru: Response To Government Initiative For Reopening Dealings With I.m.f." University of New Mexico. Archived from the original on 14 September 2024. Retrieved 10 June 2026. He added, "Before negotiating, the IMF will also ask Peru's representative for an economic program, and this is something the government doesn't have." Senator Javier Diaz Orihuela, of the conservative Popular Action Party, said the IMF has as much interest in improving mutual relations as the government does: "The exit of Peru from the private credit circuit has caused irreversible losses for medium and small-sized (US) banks that issued loans to our country."
  34. ^ [29][30][31][32][33]
  35. ^ Armas Asín, Fernando (15 September 2022). "Political Action of the Catholic Hierarchy and the Use of Religion in Political Organizations (Peru, 1920–2021): Evidence and Long-Term Analysis". Religions. 13 (9): 861. doi:10.3390/rel13090861. ISSN 2077-1444. Hence, two dynamics were constructed or confirmed between 1920 and 1950. On one hand, the emerging political parties incorporated elements from Catholic religiosity into their narratives in an effort to legitimize themselves to citizens. After 1950, this continued to happen, although in a less evident way, in other mass parties such as Acción Popular (Popular Action, or AP) and even within subversive organizations from the radical left, such as Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), which, in its most violent years of action—between 1980 and 2000—used elements taken from popular religiosity to affirm the messianic and voluntarist character of its discourse, mainly in aspects concerning political rituals (Portocarrero 2012; Degregori 2011).
  36. ^ Rojas, José (29 December 2022). "The Roots and Results of the Parliamentary Coup and the People's Uprising in Peru". Left Voice. Retrieved 2 June 2026. There are other "company parties" with a longers history, but they are also stained with corruption and pro-business appeasement, as is the case of Popular Action (Acción Popular) of the also repressive Manuel Merino and the corrupt "Vitocho" Belaunde, as well as Popular Force (Fuerza Popular) of the infamous Keiko Fujimori.
  37. ^ a b By (8 July 2021). "The Fight to Transform Peru Has Only Just Begun". jacobin.com. Archived from the original on 9 November 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2026. Centrist-neoliberal parties like Popular Action, We Are Peru, Avanza País, and the Purple Party together garnered thirty-one seats.
  38. ^ Budasoff, Joseph Zárate, Eliezer (10 April 2021). "Rafael López Aliaga: the creation of a far-right candidate in Peru". EL PAÍS English. Archived from the original on 12 March 2026. Retrieved 2 June 2026. By March 28, 2.8% had become 9.7%, according to a survey by the Peru National Institute of Statistics (IEP), a meager number but one that could, in the fragmented political landscape of the presidential elections, be enough to see López Aliaga through to a second round of voting that would pit him against Yohny Lescano, the liberal Popular Action candidate who led the polls at the end of March with 11%.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  39. ^ [10][15][38]
  40. ^ a b Bannan-Fischer, Laura (9 April 2021). "Peru: General Elections in the Air, a Crisis of Democracy on the Ground". PRIF BLOG. Archived from the original on 11 December 2025. Retrieved 1 June 2026. and Peru's oldest socialist party APRA (American Popular Revolutionary Alliance), who lacked the necessary votes to enter, social-liberal Popular Action and social-conservative Alliance for Progress, increased their seats to 25 and 22 respectively. ... After leading parties Popular Action (9,1 percent) on the center-left and We are Peru (6,7 percent) on the center-right have clearly lost support, none of the listed parties reaches 10 percent.
  41. ^ Carrión, Julio F. (2009), "The Persistent Attraction of Populism in the Andes", Latin American Democracy: Emerging Reality or Endangered Species?, Routledge, p. 238
  42. ^ [8][14][20][21][24][41]
  43. ^ Levitsky, Steven; Cameron, Maxwell A. (2009), "Democracy Without Parties? Political Parties and Regime Changes in Fujimori's Peru", Latin American Democratic Transformations: Institutions, Actors, Processes, John Wiley & Sons, p. 342
  44. ^ [14][20][21][30][37][43]
  45. ^ a b Tegel, Simeon. "After PPK, Peru's Left Struggles to Make Its Case". Americas Quarterly. Archived from the original on 13 March 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026. On the center left, Alfredo Barnechea, the candidate of Popular Action, one of Peru's few political parties with a genuine tradition and ideological coherence, also wants to improve on his fourth-place in the 2016 presidential race. ... Yet one thing appears certain: If the Broad Front, New Peru, Popular Action and several other more radical leftist candidates do not find a way to unite, the chances of the left finally taking power in Peru three years from now, will, once again, remain limited.
  46. ^ Horacek, William (2017). "Between a Bear and an Eagle: Soviet Arms and the U.S. Response in Peru". researchrepository.wvu.edu. West Virginia University. Archived from the original on 26 July 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2026. In 1956 under pressure from elite Peruvians, Odría decided to allow free elections, which presented a new path for Peruvians. Fernando Belaúnde Terry, representing the center left Popular Action Party, Manuel Prado representing the newly created Pradist Democratic Party, and the former dictator ran as head of the National Odriista Union.
  47. ^ Ferrari, Verónica (11 November 2020). "Political crisis in Peru: the new president was sworn in by the Church with an anti-rights cabinet - Presentes Agency". Agencia Presentes. Retrieved 9 June 2026. Merino comes from the right-wing Popular Action party and was one of the least voted-for congressmen in his region (just over 5,000 votes in Tumbes). He was involved in the first attempt to impeach former president Vizcarra, making calls to high-ranking military and police officials to help him assume the presidency; a month later he succeeded.
  48. ^ Paredes, Maritza. "Weak Indigenous Politics in Peru" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 June 2026. Retrieved 9 June 2026. The right-wing parties showed the lowest percentage: Accion Popular (AP) and Unidad Nacional (a front lead by PPC) had 9% and 8% respectively of candidates with indigenous names.
  49. ^ Post, Colin (16 October 2015). "Peru's congress poised to impeach justice minister". Perú Reports. Retrieved 9 June 2026. The opposition parties of Peru's congress including Keiko Fujimori's Popular Strength, Alan Garcia's APRA, Luis Castañeda's National Solidarity, the right-wing Popular Christian Party and Popular Action as well as the left-wing Dignity and Democracy all support impeachment with 74 votes. 66 are needed to unseat Adrianzen.
  50. ^ [47][48][49]
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