Independent Democrat Union
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Unión Demócrata Independiente | |
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| Leader | Hernán Larraín |
| Founded | September 24, 1983 |
| Headquarters | Av. Suecia 286, Providencia Santiago |
| Political ideology | Right-wing, Conservatism, Free market |
| International affiliation | International Democrat Union |
| Website | http://www.udi.cl/ |
| Chile |
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The Independent Democrat Union (Unión Demócrata Independiente, UDI) is Chile's most conservative political party. Its current president is Jovino Novoa. UDI and National Renewal (RN) form a coalition of right-wing parties called Alianza por Chile (Alliance for Chile).
The party nominated Las Condes mayor Joaquin Lavín as their candidate in the 1999 presidential election. Lavín won 47.5% in the first round, but was defeated in the second round by Ricardo Lagos. Lavín ran again in the 2005 presidential election but did not make it to the runoff, securing only 23% of the vote.
As of the most recent parliamentary election on December 11, 2005, UDI members hold 9 seats in the Senate and 33 in the house. UDI is the largest member of the opposition alliance, as well as the largest political party in Chile.
[edit] History
It was in the endings of the 1960s, during the university strikes of 1967 and 1968 when Jaime Guzmán, President of the Student Center of the School of Laws of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, who was against the protests and the strikes led by the Student Federation ruled by the Christian Democratic Youth, and a supporter of the gremialismo doctrine, gathered a group of students and formed the Movimiento Gremial (Brotherhood Movement) and participated in the elections of the Student Federation of his university.
The movement quickly became one of the most important in the Catholic University, winning the presidency of the Federation, and became the core of the student opposition to President Salvador Allende's government. Guzmán supported a military coup against Allende's government, which happened shortly thereafter on September 11, 1973 (see: Chilean coup of 1973). After the coup, when Gen. Augusto Pinochet named himself President of the Military Junta, Guzmán became one of his most devoted followers.
In 1980, Guzmán led a committee summoned by Pinochet to write a new Constitution. Pinochet chose Guzmán's draft over another from a committee led by former President Jorge Alessandri, and it became the Constitution of 1980, which currently is still in force.
Guzmán was the man who created the binomial electoral system, which assigns two congressional seats per district to the top two coalitions unless the first coalition gets twice as many votes, making it very difficult for a party to secure a firm majority in the legislature. This system is controversial in Chile and is often called anti-democratic.
In 1987, when Gen. Pinochet re-legalized political parties, Jaime Guzmán and his followers registered their organization, Nueva Democracia ("New Democracy") as the Independent Democrat Union, and participated in the plebiscite of 1988, supporting Pinochet and opposing free elections. The UDI formed Pinochet's most radical support, and launched a terror campaign against the opposition Coalition of Parties for Democracy, the alliance between Christian Democrats, Socialists, Social Democrats, Radicals, Humanists and Greens who gathered support free elections. UDI announced that if the Coalition were to win, "the terror and horrors of the years of Allende's government would return and Chile would fall into chaos."
After the plebiscite was defeated and free elections were announced, the UDI joined National Renewal and the Party for the South, a regional party, and formed the "Democracy and Progress" alliance (Democracia y Progreso). Hernan Büchi, the former Minister of Finances under Pinochet, ran for president for this alliance. The alliance also ran a common Parliament list. Once again, the UDI's option lost the 1989 presidential election, this time against the Coalition's leader, the Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin.
However, in the Congressional Elections, Jaime Guzmán won a seat as Senator for Santiago, Chile, thanks to the binomial system. He finished in 3rd place with 30% of the votes, behind Christian Democrat Andrés Zaldívar and Party for Democracy leader Ricardo Lagos. The Coalition's combined vote total was less than twice that of Guzmán and Miguel Otero, so Guzmán won a seat. In the Senate, Guzmán and the UDI had majority thanks to the presence of nine institutional Senators appointed by Pinochet, and obstructed several reform projects of the Coalition.
In 1991, Jaime Guzmán was murdered by terrorists of the Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez). His seat was taken over by Jovino Novoa.
In 1993, after the political earthquake of the "Piñeragate", that made impossible for National Renewal to launch a presidential candidate, they launched as candidate to Arturo Alessandri Besa, a grand-son of former President Arturo Alessandri Palma (1920-1925 and 1932-1938), and once again they lost, this time against the Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, son of former President Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970).
In 1998, when Gen. Pinochet became a Senator for life (due to a constitutional rule), the IDU supported his appointment. And when Pinochet was arrested in London, they and National Renewal forced President Frei to make any actions to bring him back.
In 1999, the IDU launched the presidential candidature of the popular mayor of Las Condes (an upper-class district) Joaquín Lavín. This time, they had to face the Socialist candidate Ricardo Lagos. In the first round, Lagos and Lavín had a technical draw, forcing to a runoff. In the runoff, Lagos defeated Lavin with nearly four points of difference (51% vs 47%).
In the Parliament elections of the 2001, the IDU had a great victory, becoming the most voted political party pf Chile, overcoming the Christian Democrat Party and obtaining majority in the Congress. This achievement was credited to their president Pablo Longueira.
In 2004, in the Municipal Elections, the IDU had a defeat, losing several Mayors and Counselors.
In 2005, they launched Joaquín Lavín for presidential elections again, but National Renewal launched another candidate, the millionare businessman Sebastián Piñera. They both had a rough campaign, attacking each other by several reasons, and when the time came in December 11th, 2005, Piñera defeated Lavín and passed to the runoff against the Coalition's candidate Michelle Bachelet. In the Parliament Elections, the IDU had a marginal loss of senators and deputies, and became the major party of the Congress, but they and their allies of National Renewal lost the majority of the seats in both the Senate and the House.
[edit] Ideology
The IDU is a right wing party. Their ideology combines the support for a liberal economy, with a minor or no participation of the State, with an extreme conservative agenda in social issues, closely tied to the Roman Catholic Church, and inspired by the Natural Law doctrine, in particular by the teachings of Thomas Aquinas and the Navarra School of Law, a right wing Spanish university founded by Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer. They are against abortion, divorce (though Chile legalized it in 2004), gay marriage and contraception. They defend most of the work of General Pinochet during his government, such as the binominal system, the previsional system (Chile has a private system of social security), private health and education boom and until the 2005, the so-called "authoritarian parts" of the Constitution (which were derogated in a Constitutional Reform).
However, although the party was formed under the wing of Gen. Pinochet, and their leader Jaime Guzmán was one of his most devoted supporters, the IDU started to move away from his figure, and decided to create an image of a "Popular Party", working intensively in the neighborhoods and the poorest districts.
They are the most tough opposition for the Coalition and usually they tend to blame them for several problems of Chile (crime, unemployment, inequity, poverty, problems in the public health and education).
[edit] External link
- (Spanish) Official web site
