Conservative Party (Chile) - Anarchy and Stability: 1920-1938

Anarchy and Stability: 1920-1938

In the 1920 presidential election, the Conservative Party teamed up with a group of dissident liberals to form the National Union alliance. Their candidate in the elections was the liberal Luis Barros Borgoño, who competed with Arturo Alessandri of the Liberal Alliance. The election was very violent and in the end Barros won the popular vote but Alessandri won the electoral vote (a situation similar to the 2000 election in the USA). Finally, a special tribunal declared Alessandri the victor by a single electoral vote. The next year, however, conservatives won control of Congress.

The inefficiency of government angered many Chileans, particularly in the army. Finally, in 1924, the army revolted and Alessandri resigned. A junta, led by Luis Altamirano, governed until 1925, when General Carlos Ibáñez and Commodore Marmaduque Grove led a counter-coup that deposed Altamirano and brought Alessandri back. The traditional political parties, including the conservatives played no part in these coups. Alessandri resigned once more in 1925 because of the excessive power wielded by General Ibáñez.

The Conservatives, Liberals, and Radicals all agreed to support Emiliano Figueroa in the 1925 presidential election. Figueroa won with an overwhelming 71%. Nevertheless, Ibáñez's pressure led to Figueroa's resignation as well, and in 1927 new elections were held. The Conservative Party chose not to participate, and Ibáñez won with 98%.

During Ibáñez's dictatorship, Congress was dissolved. Finally, in 1930, Ibáñez called the political party leaders for a meeting in the Chillán thermal baths, a popular tourist destination. To avoid a victory by 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 where it was decided on, the Conservatives received only 24 seats in the Chamber out of 133. In the Senate, they got 10 out of 42.

Ibáñez was unable to 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 was likewise unable to solve Chile's economic problems. In the end even his own party abandoned him. Supported only by the Liberals and Conservatives, Montero was deposed by a military coup led by socialist Commodore Marmaduque Grove. Grove was deposed in a counter-coup led by radical Carlos Dávila. Amid the political turmoil, Dávila resigned and was replaced by Bartolomé Blanche, who restored democracy.

Presidential elections were held on 1932. The Conservative Party candidate, Héctor Rodríguez finished in third place with only 14% of the vote. Nevertheless, the winner, Arturo Alessandri, was also a right-winger and received the Conservative Party's support during his presidency.

During Alessandri's presidency, a social-Christian faction of the Conservative Party became more powerful. Finally, in 1935, they broke away and created the Falange Nacional (National Palanx), which was to give way to the Christian Democrat Party of Chile.