than labor unions) and street demonstrations (which were often violently repressed) for the resignation or removal of General Manuel Noriega. Ricardo Arias Calderón referring to charges against Manuel Noriega of murder, drug trafficking, corruption, and electoral fraud, described him as "virtually a dictator and gangster". For the 1989 elections, the PDC was the main component of the Democratic Alliance of Civic Opposition (ADOC), with the Guillermo Endara as the coalition's presidential candidate. Calderón was viewed as a likely successor to Arias as the principal spokesman for the opposition, eventually accepting nomination as ADOC First Vice-Presidential candidate in 1989. The PDC polled 261,598 votes (40.18%), coming in first among twelve nominees. After the official ratification of the results following the US military invasion in December 1989, Calderón became First Vice-President and Interior and Justice Minister, and the PDC became the largest party in the Legislative Assembly with 28 of the 67 seats. Emboldened by a plurality within the Legislative Assembly, the PDC was estranged from its coalition partners in September 1990 when they joined with the opposition PRD to reject its nominees for chamber officials. The party stayed within the ADOC until April 1991, when its ministerial delegation was ousted by President Guillermo Endara for displaying "disloyalty and arrogance." That had followed months of infighting during which Calderón had publicly described Guillermo Endara's economic program, which advocated severe austerity measures and the privatization of state enterprises, as "senseless." Its withdrawal from the ADOC coalition government caused a political crisis. In succeeding months, the PDC became the leader of the opposition, to such an extent that it was exerting strong influence within such organizations as the Civic Crusade, an organization from which Endara had drawn his strongest support and called for a plebiscite to decide on his desirability of Endara remaining in office. In September 1991, the PDC was judged firmly to have secured its political influence on parliamentary committees as a direct result of facilitating the victory of a dissident Authentic Liberal Party (PLA) candidate in the election of a new President of the Legislative Assembly. Calderón resigned as First Vice-President of the Republic in December 1992 in a move that was seen as reflecting a desire to distance himself from Endara. In 1994, Eduardo Vallarino, the candidate of PDC, unsuccessfully ran in the presidential elections, obtaining only 25,476 votes (2.39%). As a result, the party only managed to gain one