Unity and Fall: 1953-1966
In December 1953, the Traditionalist Conservative Party joined with part of the Social Christian Conservative Party and formed the United Conservative Party. The other half of the Social Christian Conservatives joined with the Falange Nacional in 1957 and formed the Christian Democrat Party.
The United Conservative Party and the Liberal Party backed independent Jorge Alessandri in the 1958 presidential election. He triumphed with 32%, defeating socialist Salvador Allende and Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Montalva. In the parliamentary elections, however, the conservatives did not do well. In 1961, they won only 17 seats of out 150 in the Chamber and zero seats in the Senate. In 1965, the right-wing suffered a historic low. In the Chamber, Conservatives and Liberals won only 3 seats each, and in the Senate the Liberals won 1 seat and the Conservatives none.
In response to this huge loss, the conservatives and liberals united to form the National Party in 1966, under which they staged a political comeback in the next election.
Read more about this topic: Conservative Party (Chile)
Famous quotes containing the word unity:
“From cradle to grave this problem of running order through chaos, direction through space, discipline through freedom, unity through multiplicity, has always been, and must always be, the task of education, as it is the moral of religion, philosophy, science, art, politics and economy; but a boy’s will is his life, and he dies when it is broken, as the colt dies in harness, taking a new nature in becoming tame.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)