Partido Conservador (Chile)
| Partido Conservador Conservative Party |
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|---|---|
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| founding | 1836 |
| resolution | 1966 |
| Alignment |
Conservatism Economic liberalism |
| Colours) | blue |
The Partido Conservador was founded in 1836. The party represented the political goals and interests of Chilean Catholicism and was extremely influential for many decades. This party received its political profile in the 19th century in the clashes with the secular liberals. In the 20th century, debates with the anti-clerical Radical Party were added. The political debates revolved around topics such as religious instruction in schools, the separation of church and state, etc. The Partido Conservador existed until 1949 when it split into the Partido Conservador Tradicional and the Partido Conservador Social Cristiano . The latter merged with the Falange Nacional (initially an internal youth organization and in 1938 a split from the Partido Conservador) and formed the Christian Democratic Party, the Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Chile (PDC). The Partido Conservador Tradicional existed until 1953 when it formed the Partido Conservador Unido together with other parties . This in turn merged with the Partido Liberal (Liberal Party), the historical political opponent of the Partido Conservador, to form the Partido Nacional in 1966 . After the approval of political parties in the 1980s, politicians of this party joined the newly founded Renovación Nacional (RN) and Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI). RN is a more liberal party, while UDI is more conservative and Pinochet-friendly until the 1990s.
Thus three parties that exist today in Chile have direct roots in the old Partido Conservador : PDC, RN and UDI. Leading politicians from other parties began their careers in this party, such as the Christian Democrat and President Eduardo Frei Montalva , Radomiro Tomic (presidential candidate in 1970), Bernardo Leighton (minister 1964–1970) and others. a. Because of this fact, this non-existent party is often dealt with in the specialist literature.
history
founding
The origins of the conservatives go back to the overthrow of the government of Bernardo O'Higgins on January 28, 1823. The Chilean political situation during those years was divided into six main groups: the Pelucones , conservatives who supported authority and stability over personal freedoms; the Pipiolos, who supported personal freedom even beyond stability; the Pipiolos liberal, moderate, who supported personal freedoms; the federalists, mainly Liberals and Pipiolos, who also supported a federal system similar to that of the United States; the O'Higginistas , followers of O'Higgins who had gone into exile; and the Carrerinos , aided by O'Higgins' old enemy, José Miguel Carrera , who was executed in Argentina.
After O'Higgins' abdication, the new government of the liberal Ramón Freire called for new parliamentary elections. These were won by moderates who received 31 out of 58 seats. The Pelucones only got 4 seats, making them the smallest group in Congress. In the next election, which took place in 1824, the Pelucones achieved significant gains. They won 21 of 58 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and became the second largest group after the Pipiolos. The Pelucones gained control of the Chamber in 1825 when they gained eight more seats. The Pipiolos, however, maintained the Senate.
Freire resigned in 1826, but his successor, the politically neutral Admiral Manuel Blanco Encalada , was unable to rule due to a hostile congress. In 1827 the Pelucones lost control of the Chamber and the Pipiolos reappointed Freire as President. Freire resigned almost immediately and was replaced by Vice President Francisco Antonio Pinto , a Liberal.
The Pinto administration wrote a new constitution stating that presidents should be elected by an electoral system similar to that of the United States today. The candidate who received the second majority should become vice-president. Parliamentary and presidential elections were held in 1829. Pinto was re-elected as president and the Liberals (Pipiolos and Liberals) took control of Congress. Francisco Ruiz Tagle received the second majority in the presidential election and should therefore become vice-president. However, the Liberal Congress declined to accept Ruiz-Tagle as vice president and instead named a Liberal, Joaquín Vicuña , to the position.
The Pelucones were angry with this constitution and began an uprising against the liberal-dominated government. President Pinto resigned and Vicuña refused to accept the vice presidency. A number of provisional presidents succeeded Pinto, each of them unable to suppress the Pelucón uprising.
In this civil war a new group emerged, the Estanqueros, the moderate states that wanted to end political instability. This group was led by Diego Portales and allied with the Pelucón forces, who eventually defeated the Liberals under the leadership of former President Ramón Freire in the Battle of Lircay in 1830. This was an ex-o'higginista who was sympathetic to the Pelucones who had led the conservative forces in Lircay.
In government (1830–1861)
José Joaquín Prieto's government was dominated by the influential minister Diego Portales. Portales convinced Prieto to set up a commission to work out a new constitution. This constitution was finalized and put into effect in 1833. It contained numerous authoritarian elements, but guaranteed some essential freedoms. Also with the advice of Portales, Prieto declared war on the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation, which had supported a failed anti-government revolt. Although Portales was murdered before the war ended, Chile defeated the Confederation, which was dissolved. This brought enormous popularity to the pelucones.
This popularity was reflected in the general election of 1834, in which the Pelucones received 49 out of 63 MPs in the Chamber of Deputies and 10 out of 20 seats in the Senate, bringing the entire Congress under control. Prieto was easily re-elected for another five-year term in 1836. In 1841 the conservative candidate Manuel Bulnes was elected to the presidency and re-elected in 1846. During the presidency of Prieto and Bulnes, the Pelucones retained control of Congress.
In the presidential election of 1851, the conservative candidate was Manuel Montt . He won, but many conservatives were dissatisfied with him and accused him of anti-clericalism. In 1851 the Conservative Party was officially founded by the Anti-Montt-Pelucones. Although Montt won re-election in 1856, the Conservative Party defeated his National Party in the general election of 1858.
The conservative, national and liberal parties all agreed to support President José Joaquín Pérez in the presidential election of 1861. In that year’s general election, however, the Conservative lost control of Congress and came third after the Nationals and Liberals.
In the opposition (1861-1891)
Some Conservatives refused to support Pérez for re-election in 1866, and instead supported the ailing Manuel Bulnes. The Liberals won the Congress in 1867. The conservative and liberal parties then created the liberal-conservative merger that brought Federico Errázuriz Zañartu to the presidency in 1871.
However, the alliance soon collapsed. The Liberals began using electoral fraud to maintain control of the government. In the presidential elections of 1876, 1881 or 1886 there were no opposition candidates. Thanks to electoral fraud, the Liberals retained full control of Congress. In one case, Liberal President Domingo Santa María even admitted that fraud was taking place, stating: "I was accused of voter intervention. I intervened. I belong to the old school and participate in the electoral intervention because I am one efficient, disciplined parliament wants. " ...] I cannot allow the legacies of Portales, Bulnes, Montt and Errázuriz to be destroyed. "
The Conservative Party was therefore unable to participate in government until 1891. That year, President José Manuel Balmaceda's struggles with Congress had reached a climax and he decided to dissolve Congress. Congress then accused Balmaceda. The armed forces of Congress formed an alternate government, largely supported by the Navy, led by Jorge Montt in Iquique. After a series of congress victories, they reached Santiago and repelled Balmaceda, who fled to the Argentine embassy and committed suicide.
Parliamentary Republic (1891-1920)
Jorge Montt called for presidential and parliamentary elections this year. He was the only candidate for the presidency supported by the conservative, liberal, and radical parties, and won unanimously. In the first free and clean parliamentary elections in nearly half a century, the Conservative Party won a majority of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, but only 4 out of 32 seats in the Senate. The armed forces of the Congress founded the so-called " Parliamentary Republic ". The president became little more than a figurehead, and the power of Congress grew immensely.
The Conservative party won the entire Congress in 1894, but its candidate, Pedro Montt , lost in the 1901 presidential election. Throughout the parliamentary republic, the Conservatives were one of the dominant parties in Congress. Even so, the excessive power of the legislature rendered government ineffective for many and led to the crisis of the 1920s.
During this time, the Conservatives joined forces with other small like-minded groups to form the alliance known as the Coalition. The coalition's candidate in the controversial presidential election of 1915, Juan Luis Sanfuentes , won with just over 50% of the vote.
Anarchy and Stability (1920-1938)
In the 1920 presidential election, the Conservative Party joined forces with a group of liberal dissidents to form the National Union alliance. Your candidate in the elections was the Liberal Luis Barros Borgoño , who ran with Arturo Alessandri from the Liberal Alliance. The elections were very violent and in the end Barros won the referendum, Alessandri won the election vote (a situation similar to the 2000 election in the US). Eventually, a special court declared Alessandri the winner with a single vote. The next year, however, Conservatives took control of Congress.
The inefficiency of the government angered many Chileans, especially in the army. Finally, in 1924, the army revolted and Alessandri resigned. A junta, led by Luis Altamirano , ruled until 1925 when General Carlos Ibáñez and Commodore Marmaduque Grove led a counter-coup that broke off Altamirano and brought Alessandri back. The traditional political parties, including the conservatives, played no part in these coups. Alessandri resigned again in 1925 because of General Ibáñez's excessive power.
Conservatives, liberals and radicals all agreed to support Emiliano Figueroa in the 1925 presidential election. Figueroa won with a phenomenal 71%. Even so, pressure from Ibáñez led to Figueroa's resignation, and new elections were held in 1927. The Conservative Party refused to participate and Ibáñez won with 98%.
During Ibáñez's dictatorship, the Congress was dissolved. Finally, in 1930 Ibáñez called the party leaders together for a meeting in the Chillán thermal baths, a popular tourist destination. In order to avoid a victory for his opponents, Ibáñez asked each party to nominate potential congressmen. Then Ibáñez himself appointed a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. In this congress, known as the "Thermal Congress" because of the place in which it was passed, the Conservatives received only 24 members out of 133 in the Chamber. In the Senate, they scored 10 out of 42.
Ibáñez could not solve the problems caused by the Great Depression and fled the country in 1931. Conservatives, liberals and radicals all agreed to support Juan Esteban Montero (a radical) in the presidential election. Montero won, but could not solve Chile's economic problems either. In the end, he even left his own party. Supported only by the Liberals and Conservatives, Montero was ousted by a military coup by the socialist Commodore Marmaduque Grove. Grove was deposed in a counter coup by radical Carlos Dávila. Amid the political turmoil, Dávila resigned and was replaced by Bartolomé Blanche, who restored democracy.
Presidential elections took place in 1932. Conservative Party candidate Héctor Rodríguez took third place with just 14% of the vote. Still, the winner, Arturo Alessandri, was also right-winger and received the support of the Conservative Party during his presidency.
The divided rights (1938–1953)
In the presidential election of 1938, the right-wing candidate Gustavo Ross , supported by the liberal and conservative parties, was defeated by Pedro Aguirre Cerda . Conservatives and liberals were now very similar ideologically, but refused to unite. Despite the formation of the Falange Nacional , some Social Christians remained in the Conservative Party.
The 1942 presidential election was another defining moment for the right. The Conservative and Liberal parties agreed to support Carlos Ibáñez's candidacy. However, the pro-Alessandri elements of both parties refused, claiming Ibáñez was an ambitious former dictator. These groups disbanded and formed the Movimiento Liberal Antifascista (Liberal Antifascist Movement) and supported the leftist candidate Juan Antonio Ríos , who won.
The liberal and conservative parties could not agree on a single candidate for the 1946 presidential election. The Conservatives introduced Eduardo Cruz-Coke , who took second place after the radical Gabriel González Videla . During González's presidency, the Conservatives enjoyed a brief period in power when González broke with the communists who had supported him.
In 1948 the Conservative Party ceased to exist. The social Christian elements created the Social Christian Conservative Party , and their opponents created the (Traditionalist) Conservative Party. In the 1952 presidential elections, the Traditionalist Conservatives and Liberals put forward Arturo Matte as their candidate, while the National Falange, Radicale Party and Social Christian Conservatives supported Pedro Alfonso . Both lost to the independent Carlos Ibáñez.
Unity and Fall (1953-1966)
In December 1953, the Traditionalist Conservatives joined forces with part of the Social Christian Conservative Party and formed the United Conservative Party (Partido Conservador Unido, PCU). The other half of the social Christian conservatives joined the Falange Nacional in 1957 and formed the Christian Democratic Party .
The United Conservative Party and the Liberal Party backed the independent Jorge Alessandri in the presidential elections of 1958. He won with 32% and defeated the socialist Salvador Allende and the Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Montalva . However, the Conservatives did not do well in the general election. In 1961 they won only 17 out of 150 seats in the Chamber and zero seats in the Senate. In 1965 the right wing suffered an all-time low. In the Chamber, Conservatives and Liberals won only three seats each, and in the Senate the Liberals won one seat and the Conservatives none.
In response to this great loss, the Conservatives and Liberals formed the National Party in 1966 , which reappeared politically in the next elections.
Election results of the Partido Conservador in the parliamentary elections
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| Election year (total number of MPs) | Number of MPs | Number of votes | Share of votes |
| 1925 (132) | 28 | 51.902 | 19.8 |
| 1932 (142) | 34 | 55,843 | 17.2 |
| 1937 (146) | 35 | 87,845 | 21.3 |
| 1941 (147) | 32 | 77,243 | 17.2 |
| 1945 (147) | 36 | 106.264 | 23.6 |
literature
- Heise, Julio. 1982. El Periodo parlamentario 1861-1925. Tomo II Democracia y gobierno representativo en the periodo parlamentario. (Historia del poder electoral) . Editorial Universitaria. Santiago.
- Partido Conservador. 1947. Reseña de las XIV convenciones generales del Partido Conservador: 1878-1947 . Imprenta Chile. Santiago.
- Pereira, Teresa. 1994. El Partido Conservador: 1930-1965, ideas, figuras and actitudes . Editorial Universitaria. Santiago de Chile.
- Sanfuentes Carrión, Marcial. 1957. El Partido Conservador . Editorial Universitaria. Santiago.
| Parties in the Senate | ||
| Other parties in the Chamber of Deputies |
PCCh | Radicals | Humanistic | FRVS | Liberals | Green | IGUAL | Poder |
|
| Without representation in Congress |
Regionalist | MAS-IC | IAT | Cs | Andha |
|
| Historical formerly represented in parliaments |
Conservatives | National (Montt-Varas) | PLD | PD | POS | PRS | FN | PAL | PRD | PRDem | PCSC | PADENA | PF | National | MAPU | DR | SDCh | UCC |
