In 1968, Ramiro Sacasa Guerro, a relative of the Somozas and education minister, opposed Anastasio Somoza Debayle's re-election bid and formed the Constitutionalist Liberal Movement (MLC) faction within the Nationalist Liberal Party.

After Sacasa's death in a car accident, the MLC became a political party in 1983, and again gained a seat in the Council of State, occupied by Public Prosecutor Julio Centeno.

The Democratic Party had by this time split into many Liberal groups, many of whom supported the United Nicaraguan Opposition which successfully opposed the Sandinistas in the 1990 elections.

Montealegre and Rizo were both defeated, as Sandinista Daniel Ortega finished far enough ahead of both of them to avoid a runoff.

For the 2011 Nicaraguan general election, the PLC nominated Arnoldo Alemán for president again, who had been acquitted for fraud and corruption charges, after nobody else ran in the party's primaries.

[5] With Alemán as the PLC's candidate for president, the party went on to have its worst electoral result ever since it started participating in elections in 1990, ending up with slightly under 6% of the votes.

In the lead-up to the 2021 Nicaraguan general election, the party registered Walter Espinoza as its presidential candidate, following a controversial series of events.