Radical Party of Chile (2018)

This article is about the party formed in 2018 as the Social Democrat Radical Party. For the 20th century party, see Radical Party of Chile.

The Radical Party of Chile (Spanish: Partido Radical de Chile), is a classical radical^[6] political party in Chile. The party has also been referred to as liberal,^[7] social-liberal,^[8][6] and social-democratic.^[9]

Radical Party of Chile Partido Radical de Chile
Leader	Carlos Maldonado
Secretary-General	Mauricio Andrews
Chief of Deputies	Alexis Sepúlveda
Founded	18 August 1994; 30 years ago (1994-08-18) (as Social Democrat Radical Party)
Merger of	Radical Party and Social Democracy Party
Headquarters	Miraflores 495 Santiago
Youth wing	Juventud Radical
Membership (2023)	26,327 (10th)[1]
Ideology	Radicalism Social liberalism Social democracy
Political position	Centre[2][3] to centre-left[4]
National affiliation	Everything for Chile Democratic Socialism New Social Pact (2021) Constituent Unity (2020 to 2021)
Regional affiliation	COPPPAL
International affiliation	Socialist International[5]
Colours	Red
Chamber of Deputies	4 / 155
Senate	0 / 50
Regional Councils	12 / 278
Mayors	9 / 345
Communal Councils	171 / 2,252
Website
partidoradical.cl
Politics of Chile Political parties Elections

The party is a member of Socialist International and participant in the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean.

History

The party was founded as the Social Democrat Radical Party (Partido Radical Socialdemócrata)^[10][11] on 18 August 1994 out of a union between the Radical Party and the Social Democracy Party, both of which had received poor results in the parliamentary elections. The party re-adopted its historic name in 2018.^[12]

The party supported Ricardo Lagos in the 1999–2000 presidential elections, who won 48.0% in the first round and was elected with 51.3% in the second round. At the 2001 legislative elections, the party won as part of the Concertación six out of 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and no seats in the Senate. This changed at the 2005 legislative elections to seven and one, respectively. In 2009, it won five congress seats and one senate seat.

Executive board

The current party executive assumed in August 2018.

Position	Name
President	Carlos Maldonado
First Vice President	Alberto Robles MP
Second Vice President	Marcela Hernando
Third Vice President	Fernando Meza MP
Vice President for Women	Jacqueline Castillo
Secretary-General	Mauricio Andrews
Under-secretary General	Leonardo Cubillos
Secretary for Control and Organisation	Oscar Araya
Treasurer	Mario Perez
Secretary for Regions	Eduardo Vivanco
Electoral Secretary	Rosa Fuenzalida
International Secretary	Ricardo Navarrete
Secretary for Communications	Robert Guevara

Leaders of the PR (1994–present)

Leader	Titles in office	Took office	Left office	Notes
Anselmo Sule	Senator for O'Higgins (until 1998)	18 August 1994	7 June 2002 (died in office)	First directly elected leader of the PRSD.
Orlando Cantuarias (acting)	None	7 June 2002	25 October 2002	Acting leader after Sule's death
Patricio Tombolini	Under-Secretary for Transport	25 October 2002	7 January 2003[13]	Second directly elected leader. Resigned after a Corruption scandal (Caso Coimas) as the First Deputy Leader.
Orlando Cantuarias (acting)	None	7 January 2003[13]	3 April 2004[14]	Acting leader after Tombolini's resignation as the First Deputy Leader.
Augusto Parra (acting)	Senator appointed by the President of Chile as a former chancellor of the University of Concepción	3 April 2004	19 April 2004[15]	Appointed as Acting leader by the PRSD National Committee
Enrique Silva Cimma	Senator appointed by the Comptroller General of Chile	19 April 2004[15]	28 February 2005	Appointed as Leader by the PRSD National Committee
José Antonio Gómez Urrutia	Senator for Antofagasta	28 February 2005	30 December 2009[16][17]	Third directly elected leader. Resigned after the 2009 Chilean parliamentary election
Fernando Meza (acting)	MP for Toltén valley	30 December 2009[16][17]	21 January 2010[18]	Acting leader after Gomez's resignation as the First Deputy Leader.
José Antonio Gómez Urrutia	Senator for Antofagasta	21 January 2010[18]	15 March 2014[19]	Appointed as Leader by the PRSD National Committee
Ricardo Navarrete (acting)	None	15 March 2014[19]	16 May 2014[20]	Acting leader after Gomez's resignation as the First Deputy Leader. He resigned to be Chilean ambassador in Colombia.
Iván Mesías Lehu (acting)	None	16 May 2014[20]	4 August 2014	Acting leader after Navarrete's resignation as the Second Deputy Leader.
Ernesto Velasco	None	4 August 2014[21]	Incumbent	Fourth directly elected leader of the party.

Election results

Due to its membership in the Concert of Parties for Democracy, the party has endorsed the candidates of other parties on several occasions. Presidential elections in Chile are held using a two-round system, the results of which are displayed below.

Presidential elections

Elections for President of Chile

Date	Candidate	Party	Round I	Round II	Result
			%	%
1999	Ricardo Lagos	PPD	48.0	51.3	Victory
2005	Michelle Bachelet	PS	46.0	53.5	Victory
2009	Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle	PDC	29.6	48.4	Defeat
2013	Michelle Bachelet	PS	46.7	62.2	Victory
2017	Alejandro Guillier	Independent	22.7	45.4	Defeat
2021	Yasna Provoste	PDC	11.6		Defeat

See also

• Liberalism and radicalism in Chile
• List of political parties in Chile