National Unity was founded in 2000 by Lourdes Flores Nano and is considered Peru's third largest party. The party participated in the 2001 presidential election, on 8 April2001, when its candidate, Lourdes Flores Nano, won 24.3% of the vote. At the legislativeelections held on the same day, the party won 13.8% of the popular vote and 17 out of 120 seats in the Congress of the Republic.
The Party itself is a loose alliance of other political parties. Its members were initially the Christian People's Party (Partido Popular Cristiano), National Solidarity (Solidaridad Nacional), National Renewal (Renovación Nacional) and Radical Change (Cambio Radical), but the latter two the coalition, following the 2006 national election and during the campaign, respectively. PPC and SN renewed their alliance until 2010. [link]
National Solidarity's leader Luis Castañeda Lossio ran for mayor of Lima in 2002 under National Unity's banner, defeating the incumbent Alberto Andrade, from Somos Perú and a former Christian People's Party member himself.
