After the electoral failure, Arana continued to try, through threats and persuasion, to get elected representatives to support him. He talked to José Manuel Fortuny, a leftist leader in the PAR. Fortuny later said that Arana asked him "Why don't you and your friends like me? I'm not a man of the right," to which Fortuny responded "We are not against you. We appreciate the role that you played in the revolt against Ponce. It's just that you have no sympathy for labour." By 1949 the National Renovation Party and the PAR were both openly hostile to Arana. A small faction of the Popular Liberation Front (FPL) supported him, but was soundly defeated at the FPL party convention in 1949. As a result, the faction split off to support Arana. The leftist parties decided to back Árbenz instead, as they believed that only a military officer could defeat Arana. In 1947, Arana had demanded that certain labor leaders be expelled from the country; Árbenz vocally disagreed with Arana, and the latter's intervention limited the number of deportees.