Manuel Fraga Iribarne

Manuel Fraga Iribarne (born November 23, 1922 at Villalba, Galicia) is a Spanish politician. Fraga has been one of the key political figures in Spain under both General Franco's dictatorial regime and the subsequent democracy.

Alianza Popular

Fraga was one of the writers of the new Spanish constitution approved in 1978. Along with other former members of Franco's regime, he quickly founded a right-wing party called People's Alliance (Alianza Popular - AP), led by Fraga himself as its president. The party was ignored in its first years, but after the 1982 crisis and breakup of the Democratic Centre Union, the moderate-conservative party which had won the first two democratic presidential elections, AP became the second party in Spain, and Fraga was considered Leader of the Opposition to the Socialist government. Nevertheless, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party was enjoying great popularity and an absolute majority winning strike (in the 1982, 1986, and 1989 elections), as AP and its president were generally viewed as too reactionary to be an alternative. Under this critical circumstances, Fraga resigned the presidency of the party in 1986.

Related Topics:
Constitution - 1978 - People's Alliance - 1982 - Democratic Centre Union - Leader of the Opposition - Socialist - Reactionary - 1986

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