Independent Democratic Union
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Independent Democratic Union Unión Demócrata Independiente | |
---|---|
Santiago de Chile | |
Youth wing | Nuevas Generaciones UDI |
Membership (2023) | 34,121 [1] |
Ideology | |
Political position | Right-wing[A][5][6][7] |
National affiliation | Chile Vamos |
International affiliation | International Democracy Union[8] |
Regional affiliation | Union of Latin American Parties[9] |
Colours | Blue, White and Yellow |
Chamber of Deputies | 23 / 155 |
Senate | 9 / 43 |
Regional boards | 46 / 278 |
Mayors | 60 / 345 |
Communal Councils | 352 / 2,224 |
Party flag | |
Website | |
http://www.udi.cl/ | |
^ A: The party has also been described as centre-right[10] and far-right.[11] |
The Independent Democratic Union (Unión Demócrata Independiente, UDI) is a conservative[2] and right-wing[5] political party in Chile, founded in 1983. Its founder was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a civilian allied with Augusto Pinochet. Guzmán was a senator from 1990 until his murder by communist guerrillas on April 1, 1991.
Its ideological origins date back to Guzmán's Guildist Movement, born out of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 1966, espousing the independence and depoliticization of intermediate bodies of civil society. The UDI is today a conservative political party with strong links to the Opus Dei, that opposes abortion in nearly all or all cases.[12]
UDI has for most of its history formed coalitions with
The party has liberal-conservative[13] and social-conservative factions.[14][15] The social-conservative faction is characterised by its political work in poor sectors,[14] while the liberal-conservative faction is characterised by its connections to Chile’s business class,[14] its links to think tanks such as Libertad y Desarrollo (LyD),[15] and its training of young political leaders, often students from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC)[14] such as Jaime Bellolio or Javier Macaya.[14]
History
Origins (1967–1988)
It was during the university strikes of the 1960s when
Jaime Guzmán criticized liberal democracy and sought inspiration in authoritarian corporatism, proposing the
Guzmán supported a military
After the 1982 economic crisis, which caused the temporary removal of the "Chicago Boys" from cabinet, Guzmán moved away from the government and decided to found the movement he desired, establishing it on September 24, 1983 under the name Independent Democratic Union Movement (Movimiento Unión Demócrata Independiente).
The emerging movement, a supporter of the military government, had (as opposed to the traditional right-wing political groups) a strong empathy with the lower classes, in order to seize from the Marxist left its traditional domain. Amid the growing economic crisis of the time, UDI engaged in empowering leaders in the countryside and peripheral neighbourhoods that would help extend its influence in the middle and lower classes. One of them was Simon Yévenes, UDI member assassinated by left-wing resistance fighters on April 2, 1986.
On April 29, 1987, the Independent Democratic Union merged with other related movements such as National Union Movement, led by Andrés Allamand, and National Labour Front, led by Sergio Onofre Jarpa, plus some former members and supporters of the National Party and the Christian Democrats, to form the National Renewal party (RN), who managed briefly to unite all the right movements in the country. However, UDI members maintained their own identity in the new party, which caused a crisis in 1988, culminating in the resignation of all former UDI members to National Renewal. Allamand stayed in charge of National Renewal, while Jaime Guzman managed to register a new political party: the Independent Democratic Union in 1989.
End of dictatorship (1988–1989)
UDI strongly supported Pinochet's remaining in power in the
In the 1989 parliamentary elections, the Independent Democratic Union obtained a 9.82% of votes in deputies (14 deputies out of 120) and 5.11% in the Senate (2 senators elected on 38). Jaime Guzmán won a seat as
Growth and opposition (1989–2003)
By 1990, Guzman was positioned as the leader of the opposition and was one of the harshest critics of the new democratic government, accusing it of softness in the fight against left-wing armed organizations which kept operating in Chile after the restoration of restricted democracy. On April 1, 1991, Guzmán was shot dead by members of the armed left-wing group
The Independent Democratic Union remained as a minor party in the early years of transition, compared with its ally National Renewal, but over the years managed to win preferences, match and surpass them. In subsequent elections, UDI began to grow noticeably: got 12.11% in a congressional election in 1993, a 14.45% in elections in 1997 and 25.19% in the 2001 elections, when it became the largest party in Chile, removing that title to the Christian Democrats.
In 1998, when
In 1999, Joaquín Lavín, the mayor of Las Condes and member of UDI, was proclaimed as the Alliance for Chile candidate for the presidential election. Even as a relatively new face, a moderate support for Augusto Pinochet and a proposal eminently pragmatic rather than dogmatic, took him to get the 47.51% of the votes against the Concertación candidate Ricardo Lagos on the first ballot, with a difference of about 30,000 votes (i.e., almost one vote per polling place). Finally, in January 2000, Lavín got 48.69% of the votes against 51.31% of Lagos in the second round. That was the highest percentage of the vote received by any right-wing presidential candidate in the 20th century in Chile.
During the first half of the presidential term of Ricardo Lagos (2000–2006), UDI established itself as a relevant political actor of the opposition. Proof of this are the results of UDI in the 2000 municipal elections, the parliamentary elections of 2001, and the Lagos-Longueira agreement of January 17, 2003 to modernize the State administration and give a consensual political solution to Inverlink case and MOP-Gate case, which affected the institutional stability of the Lagos administration. The result of this is the election finance law, high public management law and others. During this period, especially outstanding figure is the party president, Pablo Longueira.
A milestone in the party's image came in 2003 when Longueira reported in a TV interview that he met with relatives of Disappeared Detainees, who saw the party as a serious and reliable institution, through which they could get some of the solutions that Socialist governments had not granted them. Of these numerous meetings, arose the document "Peace Now" ("La Paz Ahora"), which sought to give a sign of national reconciliation.
Disputes with National Renewal (2003–2006)
Also in 2003, stressed the frictions and conflicts between RN and UDI, mainly due to a dispute between the parties for the leadership within the Alliance for Chile, as well as personal disagreements between the presidents of both parties, Pablo Longueira and Sebastián Piñera. That is Joaquin Lavin, who was then leader of the Alliance for Chile and only presidential candidate, had suddenly and publicly call on both the resignation from their posts.
In 2005, UDI selected Joaquín Lavín for presidential elections again, but National Renewal launched its own candidate, the millionaire businessman and former senator
Michelle Bachelet first administration (2006–2010)
During the government of Michelle Bachelet (2006–2010), UDI was the majority party in both houses of Congress and successfully fought the municipal election of 2008. At the internal level, in July 2008 was first presented two lists to lead the party: one headed by Juan Antonio Coloma and Victor Perez Varela (who had the backing of the historical leaders of the party) and one by Jose Antonio Kast and Rodrigo Alvarez (supported mainly by the younger members). Coloma got 63% of member votes.
Coloma's board immediately got down to the details of the upcoming
In the
In the
Sebastián Piñera first administration (2010–2014)
Michelle Bachelet second administration (2014–2018)
The Independent Democratic Union played a main role in the opposition against Bachelet's second administration in congress, stating disagreement and rejecting the main reforms on the tax system, change the electoral system, eliminating for-profit education, reforming labour laws, allowing same-sex marriage and decriminalizing abortion in the cases of rape, fetal inviability and in case of serious risk of the mother's life and health and a project change to the constitution. In 2015, the UDI formed a new centre-right coalition called Chile Vamos alongside National Renewal and Evópoli.
During 2014 and 2015 the party faced a major crisis amid the controversies around the campaign funding and links with major holding corporate groups like Penta, Soquimich and Corpesca, the scandals had both political and judicial consequences, many leaders and members of the party, former ministers, senators, deputies were convicted under the scandals and the party suffered a major down in their approval ratings.
Despite the scandals and the internal crisis of the party, the UDI became again the most voted party in the country during the 2016 Chilean municipal elections.
Presidential candidates
The following is a list of the presidential candidates supported by the Independent Democratic Union. (Information gathered from the Archive of Chilean Elections).
- 1988 plebiscite: "Si" (lost)
- 1989: Hernán Büchi(lost)
- 1993: Arturo Alessandri Besa(lost)
- 1999: Joaquín Lavín (lost)
- 2005: Joaquín Lavín(lost)
- 2009: Sebastián Piñera(won)
- 2013: Evelyn Matthei(lost)
- 2017: Sebastián Piñera(won)
- 2021: Sebastián Sichel(lost)
Party emblems
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1983–1989
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1989–2005
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2005–2016
-
2016–2017
See also
Further reading
- Luna, Juan Pablo; Monestier, Felipe; Rosenblatt, Fernando (2014). Religious parties in Chile: The Christian Democratic Party and the Independent Democratic Union. Routledge. pp. 119–137.
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References
- ^ "Total de afiliados a partidos políticos – Servicio Electoral de Chile".
- ^ ISBN 9780801863868, retrieved 11 January 2012
- ^ ISBN 9780761973737, retrieved 11 January 2012
- ISBN 9780801863868, retrieved January 11, 2012
- ^ ISBN 9780801863868, retrieved 11 January 2012
- ISBN 9780203884188, retrieved 11 January 2012
- ^ "Chile prosecutor seeks to investigate claims of police torture of protesters". Reuters. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
Vandals also attacked the offices of the right-wing Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party several blocks from the Costanera center.
- ^ "Members | International Democrat Union". 1 February 2018.
- ^ "Partidos Miembros". Archived from the original on 2022-03-31. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
- ^ Alvántara Sáez, Manuel; Freidenberg, Flavia, Partidos políticos de América Latina. Cono Sur
- ^ "As Protests Rock Chile, the People Consider Rewriting Pinochet's Constitution". The New Yorker. 10 December 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
The amendment passed, and, nine days later, after teaching a class on constitutional law at the Catholic University, Guzmán was driving to the offices of the far-right Independent Democratic Union, a party he founded after drafting the constitution, when two men reportedly belonging to a left-wing guerrilla group approached his car and shot him in the chest.
- ^ "Chilean TV channel 13 news UDI against abortion". 18 October 2017.
- ^ "Jovino Novoa: La influyente trayectoria del hombre que tomó las riendas de la UDI tras el asesinato de Guzmán". Ex-Ante (in Spanish). 1 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "Ex jefa de prensa denunció "machismo, clasismo y racismo" en la UDI" (in Spanish). Radio Cooperativa. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ a b Ganora, Emmanuel (1 June 2021). "Cinco episodios en la ruta de Jovino Novoa: el ocaso de un histórico de la UDI". The Clinic (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ Discurso de Chacarillas (1978)[permanent dead link]
- ^ Paulina Pavez Verdugo (2014). "TESIS - El Hombre del Destino: Las representaciones sociales y culturales de Pinochet en la postdictadura 1990-2013" (PDF). Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades (Universidad de Chile) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-01-13.
External links
- (in Spanish) Official web site