Founded as the Autonomist Liberal Party (Spanish: Partido Liberal Autonomista, PLA), in 1878 and renamed in 1898, the party first contested elections in 1910,[1] when it won 23 of the 41 seats in mid-term elections.
They lost the 1912 elections to the Conjunción Patriótica alliance, and went on to finish second in elections in 1914, 1916 (in which they won the same number of seats in the House of Representatives as the National Conservative Party, but won fewer seats in the Senate) and 1918.
[2] In the 1940 general elections the party was again part of an alliance, the People's Socialist Coalition, alongside the Communist Revolutionary Union, Progressive Action, the Democratic National Association and the Republican Democratic Party.
[2] An alliance with the Democratic Party and the Partido Auténtico won the 1950 mid-term elections.
However, for the 1954 elections the party allied against the Partido Auténtico alongside Progressive Action, the Radical Union and the Republican Democratic Party, putting forward the victorious Batista as their presidential candidate.