Coalition of Parties for Democracy

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:Politics of Chile The Coalition of Parties for Democracy (Spanish Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia), more often known as the Concertación, is an alliance of center-left political parties in Chile founded in 1988. The coalition (in various forms) has held the Chilean presidency since military rule ended in 1990; the elected Presidents have been Patricio Aylwin, Eduardo Frei, and Ricardo Lagos and the actual president of Chile Michelle Bachelet.

1 History
2 Member parties
3 Original member parties
4 See also
5 External link

[edit]

History

In 1987 Augusto Pinochet, the de facto President of Chile, legalized the political parties and rallied a prebiscite to determine his continuity in power. Several parties, such as the Christian Democracy, the Socialists, the Radical Party, etc. were gathered in the Alianza Democrática (Democratic Alliance) and in 1988, due to the plebiscite, those and other parties, such as the Humanists, the Greens, the Socialdemocrats, and several factions of the Socialist Party (disregarded due to their renewal) joined themselves in the "Concertación de Partidos por el NO" (Coalition of Parties for NO)

During the elecionary period, they organized a colorful and cheerful campaign, whose slogan was "La alegría ya viene" ("The joy is coming"). Some Socialist factions were the last to join, because they were reluctant to work in the plebiscite, fearing an electionary fraud by Pinochet. In October 5th, 1988, the option "NO" won with a 54% of the votes, and thus, Pinochet had to call on general elecions for 1989.

In that year, the Coalition changed their name to Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia (Coalition of Parties for Democracy), and launched as presidential candidate to the Christian Democrat leader Patricio Aylwin, whose slogan was "Con Aylwin gana la gente" ("With Aylwin, the people wins"), and launched a common list for the Parliament Elections. In the elections of 1989, Aylwin won and the Coalition had the majority of votes for the Parliament, but they had no majority there due to the binomial system. That was a situation that they had to face constantly for over 15 years, and forced them to negotiate all law projects with the opposition of the Alliance for Chile, a right-wing alliance between the Unión Demócrata Independiente, UDI)(Independent Democrat Union, IDU) and Renovación Nacional, RN (National Renewal, NR).

In 1993, the Coalition launched as presidential candidate to the Christian Democrat senator Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, son of Eduardo Frei Montalva, founder of the Christian Democrat Party and former President of Chile (1964-1970), and his slogan was "Frei, el hombre de los nuevos tiempos" ("Frei, the man of new ages"). He defeated to the right-wing candidate, Arturo Alessandri Besa, with the 57% of the votes, and he became the third Christian Democrat president, and the second Coalition's president.

In the same year, the Humanist Party, the Christian Left, and the Greens left the Coalition, accusing it of betraying the purpose for it was born. Also, the Social Democratic Party and the Radical Party fusioned themselves in the Social Democratic Radical Party, and for then, all the former Socialist factions joined in the Socialist Party.

His government had to face two difficult situations: the economic crisis that raised the unemployment, and the arrest of Gen. Pinochet in London. Those situations brought the Coalition to fear a defeat in the presidential elections of 1999.

In that year, the Coalition had two candidates, the Christian Democrat Andrés Zaldívar and the Socialist Ricardo Lagos. They decided to go in primary elections to decide the Coalition's candidate. Lagos won the primary and went to career against the charismatic leader of the IDU Joaquín Lavín. In the elections, Lagos defeated Lavín, but the difference between them forced to a runoff against him (The first runoff in Chilean History). This time, with the full support of the Greens, Humanists, and even the left parties, Lagos won the election with the 51% of the votes.

For 2005, the Coalition had again two candidates, but this time, they were female. The Christian Democrat Soledad Alvear, former Chancellor, and the Socialist Michelle Bachelet, former Minister of Defense. As before, this situation had to be arranged in a primary election between both of them. However, in May 2005, after months of internal disputes with the directive of her party, Soledad Alvear backed off her presidential aspirations and decided to run for senator in Santiago. Therefore, Michelle Bachelet became the Coalition's candidate and the first woman to run for Presidence with high options to win (The first female Presidential candidate was the Communist leader Gladys Marín), and had to run with the two Alliance candidates, Joaquín Lavín for the IDU and Sebastián Piñera for National Renewal.

In December 11th, 2005, Bachelet won with the 45% of the votes, however, she was forced to go to a runoff against Piñera, who became the only Alliance candidate. Also, the Coalition obtained the 51,25% of the votes in the Parliament Elections, winning 20 seats in the Senate and 65 seats in the House, and at first time in all the 16 years of democratic rule, they had majority in both Houses.

In Janyary 15, 2006, the runoff was held, and this time, Michelle Bachelet won the election with nearly the 54% of the votes. Thus, she became the fourth President of the Coalition, the third Socialist to reach the Presidence (Salvador Allende and Ricardo Lagos were the other two), and the first woman to become President of Chile.

[edit]