Partido Demócrata Cristiano, Chile

(PDC)

   / Christian Democratic Party

   A centrist political party in Chile. Founded in 1957 from the merger of the National Falange and the Social Christian Conservative Party, the PDC has taken a position between the conservative capitalism of the Chilean right and the social collectivism of the Chilean left. By 1970 it had greatly expanded its membership, attracting a majority of the middle class, professionals, and, in the 1960s, voters from the Partido Radical (Radical Party). The PDC reform government of President Eduardo Frei Montalva initiated social policies that benefited many Chileans, especially the middle class and professionals. The PDC, however, did not anticipate the strength of the Unidad Popular (UP, Popular Unity) coalition, which in 1970 helped elect the Marxist president Salvador Allende Gossens. The result was a bitter, interparty rivalry that continued over the next three years, the PDC using its majority in the Congreso Nacional (National Congress) to bring legislative pressure on Allende Gossens. During the 1973 congressional election campaigns, the PDC formed a coalition with the Partido Nacional (National Party), a major political organization on the right, and other, smaller opposition parties, creating the Confederación Democrática (CODE, Democratic Confederation). The main objective of CODE was to win enough congressional seats to impeach Allende Gossens or at least block his socialist agenda. The resulting impasse between the executive and legislative branches of government paralyzed the UP in the face of fiscal chaos and civil disorder. Several high-placed PDC officials openly called for military intervention to depose the government. When the armed forces rebelled on 11 September 1973, the PDC did not intervene, hoping to fill a leadership role once order was restored. When it became clear, however, that a primary objective of the military regime of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte was to subvert all political parties, the PDC took a lead role in opposing the dictatorship.