National Action Party

National Action Party Parti d'action nationale
Abbreviation	PAN
Leader	Marc-Antoine Vernier
Founded	4 July 1994
Split from	Movement for Democratic Reform
Ideology	Centrism Liberalism Populism
Political position	Centre
Colors	Yellow, green, blue, red
Seats	8 / 14
Website
www.partidactionnationale.sb
Political parties

The National Action Party (Principean: Parti d'action nationale, PAN) is a centrist political party in Saint-Baptiste. The PAN is one of two main parties in Saint-Baptiste, alongside the Democratic Centre Union. At present, the party forms the government, holding a majority of eight seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Although the main parties in the country differ little in terms of ideology, the PAN is often considered the more liberal organization, with a populist bent. Foreign media often refers to the party as liberal, catch-all, and in favour of free markets.

History

The National Action Party was founded on 4 July 1994 as Democratic Action (Action démocratique, ADÉM) by former Minister of Finance and Infrastructure Emmanuel Ménard, who had split from the Movement for Democratic Reform after a government reshuffle replaced Ménard after disagreements with Prime Minister Joseph Morin. Initially, the new party held two seats, that of Ménard's and former Minister of Labour, Education, and Environment Marc-Antoine Vernier. In the 1995 election, Ménard was the only incumbent not defeated in the Democratic Centre Union landslide, and thus became the official opposition. ADÉM would soon emerge as the main pro-reformist party after the 1996 presidential election, and in 1999 would win a landslide majority government, with Ménard as Prime Minister. The party would adopt its current name in 2000.

In 2001, the Ménard government was revealed to have used various Amand banks to launder funds and enrich select party members, in what would be dubbed the Ménard scandal. The laundering scheme sunk PAN chances at capturing the presidency in 2001, and reduced the party's majority significantly in the 2003 parliamentary elections, barely holding onto a second term in government. The PAN would finally lose power in 2007 to the UCD, with Emmanuel Ménard seen as the least trusted Baptistois politician according to polling at the time.

In 2010, the PAN underwent various "modernizing" reforms, including electing Marc-Antoine Vernier as leader and moving away from economic liberalism in favour of a more populist rhetoric. This, alongside the admission of former Prime Minister Joseph Morin and a UCD backbencher into the party and an aesthetic rebranding, returned the PAN to a competitive status by the 2011 elections. With Saint-Baptiste facing an economic recession and a financial scandal under the UCD government, the PAN was able to secure both a majority government in the Chamber of Deputies and the presidency by landslide margins in 2011, in what both domestic and foreign media called a "Yellow Wave". The PAN has remained in power since then, with the party increasing its majority in 2015 and Emmanuel Ménard retaining the presidency in 2016.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

Election year	Leader	# of votes	% of vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Govt?
1995	Emmanuel Ménard	2,913	19.86 (#3)	1 / 14	1	Official opposition
1999		7,070	53.11 (#1)	11 / 14	10	Majority
2003		6,151	44.81 (#2)	8 / 14	3	Majority
2007		4,360	36.45 (#2)	3 / 14	5	Official opposition
2011	Marc-Antoine Vernier	6,884	47.37 (#1)	9 / 14	6	Majority
2015		6,658	47.76 (#1)	10 / 14	1	Majority
2019		6,648	41.82 (#1)	8 / 14	2	Majority

President

Election year	Candidate	1st round		2nd round
		# of votes	% of vote	# of votes	% of vote
1996	Emmanuel Ménard	3,481	25.30 (#2)	6,573	47.27 (#2)
2001	Marc-Antoine Vernier	4,467	35.76 (#2)	6,043	44.19 (#2)
2006	Emmanuel Ménard	3,419	31.53 (#2)	4,312	41.84 (#2)
2011	Emmanuel Ménard	7,590	50.58 (#1)
2016	Emmanuel Ménard	6,319	47.16 (#1)	7,009	51.37 (#1)