Conservative Party (Chile) - The "Parliamentary Republic": 1891-1920

The "Parliamentary Republic": 1891-1920

Jorge Montt called for presidential and parliamentary elections that year. He was the only candidate for the presidency, supported by the Conservative, Liberal, and Radical parties, and won unanimously. In the first free and clean parliamentary elections since almost a half-century, the Conservative Party won the majority of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies, but won only 4 seats out of 32 in the Senate. The Congressional forces established what became known as the "Parliamentary Republic". The president became little more than a figurehead, and Congress' power grew immensely.

The Conservative Party won all of Congress in 1894, but their candidate, Pedro Montt, lost in the 1901 presidential election. Throughout the Parliamentary Republic period, the Conservatives were one of the dominant parties in Congress. Nevertheless, the excessive power of the legislative body made government ineffective in the eyes of many, leading to the crisis of the 1920s.

During this period, the conservatives joined with other small like-minded groups to form the alliance known as the Coalition. The Coalition candidate in the contentious 1915 presidential election, Juan Luis Sanfuentes, won with just a little more than 50% of the vote.