The Independent Democratic Union (Unión Democrata Independiente, UDI) is a Chilean right-wing, conservative political party, founded in 1983. Its main inspirer was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a civilian Augusto Pinochet's collaborator, and a senator from 1990 until his assassination on April 1, 1991.
Its ideological origins date back to the Jaime Guzmán's Guildist Movement, born in the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 1966, espousing the independence and depoliticization of intermediate bodies of civil society.
UDI, together with National Renewal (RN) and other minor movements, form a coalition of right-wing parties called Coalition for Change, which is the successor to Alliance for Chile and rose to power in March 2010, after the victory in the presidential elections held in January 2010. It is currently the largest political party in Congress.
In the Chilean parliamentary election, 2009, UDI was the first majority in the election of deputies, electing 40 deputies (one third of the House) with a 23.04% (1,507,001 votes), and got a 21.21% (369,594 votes) in the election of senators. Its bench is the largest obtained by a single party in Chile since 1990. UDI currently has 39 deputies and 8 senators.
In the Chilean municipal election, 2008, UDI got 347 councilmen (16.16% of councilmen) by a vote of 15.11%, and obtained 58 mayors (16.81% of mayors) by a vote of 20.05%. That year, it was the largest party by elected councilmen and the most voted party in the election of councilmen. Also, UDI is the second largest party by number of mayors in Chile (only one mayor less than Partido Demócrata Cristiano de Chile).
Read more about Independent Democratic Union: History
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