Abstract

HERRERA, Mario; MORALES QUIROGA, Mauricio  and  RAYO, Gustavo. The electoral collapse of the Chilean Christian democracy, 1989-2021. Perf. latinoam. [online]. 2023, vol.31, n.62, 008.  Epub May 31, 2024. ISSN 0188-7653.  https://doi.org/10.18504/pl3162-008-2023.

We explain the electoral deterioration of the Chilean Christian Democratic Party (PDC, by its acronym in Spanish), which fell from 26% of the votes in the inaugural elections of democracy in 1989, to 4.2% in the legislative elections of 2021. We suggest three explanatory factors. First, the PDC’s electoral base has always been predominantly Catholic; since the mid-2000s, right-wing parties have competed with the PDC in this core constituency partially successfully. Second, the PDC has been a centrist party, but since the late 1990s, it has faced competition from left-wing parties for these voters. Third, the internal factions of the PDC went from a cooperative dynamic to a disruptive dynamic, with accelerated changes of leadership and militant flight. All these anticipated poor results for the 2017 and 2021 presidential elections, with 5.9% and 11.6%, respectively.

Keywords : Christian democracy; political parties; elections; Catholic; factions; militants; public opinion polls; Chile.

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