Usuario:Mschense/Taller

The Political parties of Chile, otherwise known as the "Party System", clearly categorizes three distinct political groups in Chile (left, central and right). Before 1973, the three parties were moderately pluralistic and fragmented.

This distinction has existed since the end of the 19th Century, however since then, different parties have begun to consistently make up the three groups. Each party has participated in the Management of the State or has been represented in the National Congress.

Political parties are recognized legally and formally in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile of 1980 and by the Organic Constitutional Law of Political Parties of 1987 as organizations that participate in the legal political system and contribute to guiding public opinion.

History of Chile's Political Parties

Timeline of Chilean Political Parties from 1830-1970.

Origins and the First Blocks (1810-1860)

In Chile, the first political groups were created during the Independence of Chile: the Royalists (in favor of the King of Spain) and the Patriots (in favor of a more independent republic). In turn, they divided into the Moderates (those in favor of more autonomous processes under the Spanish Empire) and the Radicals.

Once Chile had independence, many political groupings emerged. They were based on various popular leaders, and not as much around common political ideals. Two very strong political groupings were "The Pipolos" --the Liberals-- and "The Pelucónes"--the conservatives--, with the O’higginists and the Tobacconists often found by their side. Finally, after Diego Portales Palazuelos became the architect of the New Institution, through the The Constitution of 1833, "The Pelucónes" prevailed for thirty years (1831-1861).

From 1831-1861, the prevailing political system was one in which the President co-opted a successor. This system greatly influenced the idea that power was transferred between members of the ruling political sector. Only the Question of the Sacristan (1856), which divided "The Pelucónes (now called the Conservatives), allowed for the rise of the Liberals to power in 1861.

Dominance of the Traditional Parties (1860-1920)

The formal emergence of political parties in Chilean institutions occurred around the 1850s. Chileans began to challenge the President as the leading role in national political life through the National Congress. In 1891, the disagreement was finally resolved, in favor of the latter.

Around that time, the rise of the middle class would eventually lead to the creation of the Radical Party. Their campaign started in the 1850s, as a group defending the interests of the silver miners mining bourgeoisie, but it would gradually shift its focus to the employees of the growing state bureaucracy. Soon afterwards, from the same branch of radicalism, the Democratic Party appeared. It was a community that was born closer to the proletarian sectors, but that over time would join the game of alliances with the rest of the party system.

After the Chilean Civil War of 1891, the political system began to embody elements of a parliamentary system. Hence, the political coalitions became very strong. Although around twenty distinct political parties and movements existed, Chilean politics was structured around two large groups: the Liberal Alliance (of Liberal and Progressive tendency) and the Coalition (Conservative, Catholics). At the same time, political parties, until then a sort of political clubs of the oligarchic bourgeoisie, expanded to include the thriving middle and working class too.

Massification of Political Parties (1920-1973)

With the rise of Immigration from Europe, workers with anarchist and socialist ideas came to Chile. Additionally, in the mid-19 century, the union movement began in the nitrate fields of the Great North of Chile through a surge of the mancomunales and resistance cooperatives. It is from these processes that in 1912, the Workers' Socialist Party (OSP) was founded in Iquique by the typographer Luis Emilio Recabarren and 30 union workers and employees. OSP is defined as the political party of the Chilean working class. In 1922, SOP joined the Third Communist International, which is now known as the the Chilean Communist Party.

In the period between 1920 and 1938 (between the start of the first presidential term of Arturo Alessandri Palma and the end of his second term) a series of political incidents led to the loss of the importance of traditional nineteenth-century parties, but for the benefit of the party masses.

The splendor of this new type of political party would come with the three presidential terms of the Radical Party between 1938 and 1952. At that time, the Radical Party (the group of the middle class, par excellence), transformed into a large body of positions and political favors, which in the long run would lead to its discredit. Its place as an intermediate political group-- between the right and the left-- would be taken by the Christian Democratic Party. The Christian Democratic Party is the successor of the National Falange, which in turn had split from the declining Conservative Party after the victory of Eduardo Frei Montalva (1964-1970). Regarding political parties, their main characteristic between 1938 and 1973 was their structuring into the classic "three thirds” (right, central, and left).

With Salvador Allende, the Popular Unity Party came to power as a vast political coalition composed of elements from the center and the left. However, the Military Coup of 1973 signified not only the desperation of the Popular Unity, but the breakdown of the party system and its end during most of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Only in the last year of the military dictatorship was the Organic Constitutional Law of Political Parties enacted, which regulated their formation and function.

Proscription of Parties and Reorganization (1973-1990)

Between 1973 and 1987, Chilean political parties were prohibited. On October 8th, 1973, the members of the Popular Unity Party were banned and three days later, the rest of the political parties and movements were declared adjourned,​ and definitively dissolved on March 12, 1977.​

On October 1, 1996, the Organic Constitutional Law was published in the Legal Gazette, which reestablished the system of electoral registrations and created the Electoral Service of Chile (Servel) as a replacement for the former Directorate of the Electoral Registry.​ On March 23, 1987, the Organic Constitutional Law of Political Parties was published –which established its objectives, requirements for legalization and the internal organization between others—with witch the groups began procedures for their legal recognition.​

The National Party was the first political organization to be legally recognized by the Servel on December 23, 1987, inscribed officially in the registry on January 4, 1988.​ In the following months—before the Plebiscite of October 5th, 1988 -- the National Advance, Humanist, Natural Renewal, Radical Democracy, Socialist, Christian Democratic, Party for Democracy, Party of the South, Radical and Green parties were legalized.​

Return to Democracy (1990-Present)

Chilean Electoral Results from 1989, including local elections, deputy elections, and presential elections (dotted line).

With the restoration of Democracy in 1990, the prominent political model was the Agreement of Parties for Democracy, a center-left group founded by 17 political parties. According to the agreement, only the Christian Democratic Party (CDP), the Social Democratic Radical Party (SDRP), the Party for Democracy (PPD), and the Socialist Party (SP) survived.The agreement governed Chile throughout the presidencies of Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994), Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1994-2000), Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006) and Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010). The staunchest opponent of the ruling party, both as a supervisory body and as a parliamentary and popular opposition, was the Alliance (also known as the "Alliance for Chile"). The Alliance was center-right and grouped together the Independent Democratic Union (IDU), the National Renewal (NR), and to a lesser extent, the leftist pact of Together We Can Do More.

The Alliance came to power when Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014) assumed office. In 2013, the parties that made up the Opposition Agreement decided to make an agreement with the Communist Party (CChP), the Citizen Left Party (LC), and the MAS Region (Social Amplified Movement) Party (SAM), creating the New Majority. This coalition won comfortable victories in the 2013 elections and achieved reelection of Michelle Bachelet between 2014-2018. For its part, the parties that made up the Alliance, regrouped in 2015 in a new coalition denominated Let’s Go Chile.

In 2016, the number of political parties in Chile doubled, increasing from 14 to 32. It came as a precursor to the municipal elections of the year and the Parliamentary Elections of 2017,​ given that they will be the first to be held under the new proportional electoral system, the replacement for the binomial system. The binomial system favored the existence of two blocks to the detriment of isolated parties and independent candidates. In that election, the Broad Front appeared, a coalition that brought together left and liberal sectors, which surprisingly won the election of 20 deputies.​ In the presidential election, Sebastián Piñera was able to return to the government and establish Let’s Go Chile as an official coalition.

References

Bibliography

• Cruz-Coke, Ricardo. 1952. Geografía electoral. Santiago de Chile.
• Donoso, Ricardo. 1946. Las ideas políticas en Chile. Fondo de Cultura Económica. México D.F.
• Edwards, Alberto, y Eduardo Frei. 1949. Historia de la los partidos políticos chilenos. Editorial del Pacífico. Santiago de Chile.
• Friedmann, Reinhard. 1988. 1964-1988 La política chilena de la A a la Z. Melquíades. Santiago de Chile. ISBN 956-231-027-1
• Fuentes, Jordi, y Lía Cortés. 1967. Diccionario político de Chile, 1800-1966'. Santiago de Chile
• Gil, Federico G. 1969, El sistema político de Chile. Editorial Andrés Bello. Santiago de Chile.
• Guilisasti Tagle, Sergio. 1964. Partidos políticos chilenos. Editorial Nascimento. Santiago de Chile.
• Kushner, Harvey: Encyclopedia of Terrorism. California: Sage Publications Ltd., 2003.- ISBN 0-7619-2408-6
• León Echaiz, René. 1939. Evolución histórica de los partidos políticos chilenos. Editorial del Pacífico.
• Urzúa Valenzuela, Germán. 1979. Diccionario político institucional de Chile. Editorial Ariete. Santiago de Chile.
• Urzúa Valenzuela, Germán. 1992. Historia política de Chile y su evolución electoral. Desde 1810 a 1992. Editorial Jurídica de Chile. Santiago de Chile. ISBN 956-10-0957-9.

External Links

• Servicio Electoral de Chile