Concert of Parties for Democracy
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Coalition of Parties for Democracy
Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia |
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| Leader | Michelle Bachelet |
| Founded | February 2, 1988 |
| Dissolved | 2013 |
| Political position | Center-left |
The Concertación (full Spanish name: Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia, English: Coalition of Parties for Democracy) is a coalition of center-left political parties in Chile, founded in 1988. Presidential candidates under its banner won every election from when military rule ended in 1990 until the conservative candidate Sebastián Piñera won the Chilean presidential election in 2010.
In 1987 General Augusto Pinochet, the de facto President of Chile, legalized political parties and called a plebiscite to determine whether or not he would remain in power. Several parties, including the Christian Democracy, the Socialist Party and the Radical Party, gathered in the Democratic Alliance (Alianza Democrática). In 1988, several more parties, including the Humanist Party, the Ecologist Party, the Social Democrats, and several Socialist Party splinter groups added their support, despite fears of election fraud by Pinochet, and the "Concertación de Partidos por el NO" ("Coalition of Parties for NO") was formed to campaign against the continuation of Pinochet's regime.
The parties and leaders that made the first Party Presidents' Council were:
During the election campaign, the Coalition organized a colorful and cheerful campaign under the slogan "La alegría ya viene" ("Joy is coming"). Some Socialist factions were the last to join, because they were reluctant to work in the plebiscite, fearing election fraud by Pinochet. On October 5, 1988, the "NO" vote won with a 54% majority, and a general election was called for 1989.
In that year, the coalition changed their name to Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia ("Concert of Parties for Democracy") and put forward Patricio Aylwin, the Christian Democrat leader, as a presidential candidate, as well as launching a common list for the parliamentary elections. In elections the following year, Aylwin won and the coalition gained the majority of votes in the Chamber of Deputies. However, in Chile's bicameral parliament, they had no majority in the Senate, a situation they found themselves in constantly for over 15 years. This forced them to negotiate all law projects with the right-wing parties, the Unión Demócrata Independiente (UDI) and Renovación Nacional (RN) (later coalesced into the Alliance for Chile).
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