Christian Democratic Party of Chile
칠레 기독민주당
A Chilean centrist party drawing on Catholic social teaching, formed in 1957 by the merger of the Falange Nacional, which had split from the Conservative Party, with the Social Christian Conservative Party. In 1964 Eduardo Frei Montalva became president under the banner of the "Revolution in Liberty" and pursued agrarian reform and the Chileanisation of copper. After the 1970 election its votes in Congress confirmed Allende, but it then joined the right-wing National Party against the Popular Unity government and backed the 1973 coup. Under the dictatorship it moved into opposition.
In depth
The Christian Democrats grew out of the Conservative Party's youth of the 1930s, who split off in 1935 as the reform-minded Falange Nacional and in 1957 merged with other social-Christian groups to found the PDC behind Frei's candidacy. In 1964 Frei won with 56%, backed by the right-wing parties and secretly by the CIA. His government passed the agrarian reform law of 1967, bought 51% of the copper mines and legalised rural unions, presenting a centrist "third way" of reform.
In 1970 Radomiro Tomic of the party's left wing ran on nationalisation and land reform pledges close to Allende's and came third. In the congressional run-off the Christian Democrats gave Allende their votes on condition that he sign the Statute of Constitutional Guarantees, and in 1971 they voted for the constitutional amendment nationalising copper.
From 1971, however, the party broke with Popular Unity. In 1972 it formed the Confederation of Democracy (CODE) with the National Party, and after the March 1973 elections Frei led the opposition as President of the Senate. The Chamber's resolution of 22 August declaring the government unconstitutional and appealing to the armed forces passed with Christian Democratic and National Party votes, and the party leadership backed the coup. That November Frei wrote to the international Christian Democratic organisation justifying it. A minority, Bernardo Leighton among them, condemned the coup from the start. When the junta banned party activity the PDC moved gradually into opposition, and after the 1990 return to civilian rule Patricio Aylwin became president.