National Popular Alliance

The National Popular Alliance or ANAPO (Alianza Nacional Popular) is a left-wing political party in Colombia. ANAPO is one of the political movements that currently make up the Independent Democratic Pole coalition.

History

The party's political height grew during the mid-to-late 1960s and the beginning of its decline came in 1970, after what is commonly perceived as its zenith by historians.

The 1970 Elections

Defeat or Fraud?

The year of 1970 saw the electoral defeat of its presidential candidate, the former dictator General Gustavo Rojas, at the hands of the Conservative candidate of the National Front, Misael Pastrana, after a close April 19 election which ANAPO and several prominent figures of Colombian public opinion condemned as fraudulent at the time.

The accusation has been maintained by ANAPO and most opposition parties ever since. Polls have shown that subsequently it has almost become a fact accepted by the political mainstream in Colombia as of 2005, specifically due to the gradual surfacing and historical evaluation of supporting evidence, memoirs and testimonies.

Aftermath

Initially, ANAPO tried to declare the elections illegitimate, both by actively calling for a citizen protest or uprising, and also by demanding that Colombia's Electoral Court abstain from supporting the official result. The Court denied this request and recognized Misael Pastrana as president elect.

ANAPO's reaction created alarm in many National Front politicians and media outlets, who supported the announced result. President Carlos Lleras vehemently denied the charges of fraud and argued that his responsibility was to hand over power to the legally recognized winning candidate. The government declared a state of siege in order to try to stop riots from erupting, signs of which appeared mainly in Bogotá but also in some other regions of the country.

In 1974, the 19th of April Movement (M-19), a Colombian guerrilla group, came into the public scene and claimed that its struggle was a reaction to what it called the illegitimacy of the 1970 elections, the nation's bipartisan political system, and the National Front agreement that had supported them.

Initially, the M-19 hoped to actively incorporate ANAPO leaders and party members as its political representatives, but many, including ANAPO chief Maria Eugenia Rojas, ultimately rejected any attempt to actively establish such an association.

Recent Electoral Status

At the last legislative elections, 10 march 2002 , the party won as one of the many small parties having parliamentary representation.