Conservative Party (Chile) - Origins: 1823-1829

Origins: 1823-1829

The Conservative Party's origins go back to the fall of Bernardo O'Higgins' government on January 28, 1823. The Chilean political situation during those years was divided into six main groups: the pelucones, conservatives who supported authority and stability over personal freedoms; the pipiolos, who supported personal freedoms even over stability; the liberales, moderates who supported personal freedoms; the federalistas, mainly liberales and pipiolos who also supported a federalist system similar to that of the United States; the o'higginistas, supporters of O'Higgins, who had gone into exile; and the carrerinos, supported of O'Higgins' old enemy José Miguel Carrera, who had been executed in Argentina.

After the abdication of O'Higgins, the new government of liberal Ramón Freire called for new parliamentary elections. These were won by moderates, who obtained 31 seats out of 58. The pelucones received only 4 seats, and were therefore the smallest group in Congress. In the next election, which took place in 1824, the pelucones made significant gains. They won 21 seats out of 58 in the Chamber of Deputies, becoming the second-largest group after the pipiolos. The pelucones gained control of the Chamber in 1825, when they won eight more seats. The pipiolos, however, maintained hold over the Senate.

Freire resigned on 1826, but his successor, the politically neutral admiral Manuel Blanco Encalada, was unable to govern because of a hostile Congress. In 1827, the pelucones lost control of the Chamber, and the pipiolos appointed Freire to the presidency once more. Freire resigned almost immediately and was replaced by Vicepresident Francisco Antonio Pinto, a liberal.

Pinto's government wrote a new Constitution, which stated that presidents were to be elected by a system of electors similar to that of the United States today. The candidate which received the second majority was to become vicepresident. Parliamentary and presidential elections were held on 1829. Pinto was reelected as president and the liberals (pipiolos and liberales) won control of Congress. Francisco Ruiz-Tagle, a pelucón, received the second majority in the presidential election and therefore should have become vicepresident. The liberal Congress, however, refused to accept Ruiz-Tagle as vicepresident and instead named a liberal, Joaquín Vicuña, to that position.