Chile Vamos (Spanish for "Let's go Chile") is a centre-right to right-wing political coalition of three political parties in Chile. The coalition was created on 29 January 2015 by the general secretaries of the Independent Democrat Union (UDI), National Renewal (RN), Democratic Independent Regionalist Party (PRI) and Political Evolution (Evópoli).[7]

Let's go Chile
Chile Vamos
LeaderSebastián Sichel
Founded29 January 2015; 9 years ago (2015-01-29)
Preceded byAlliance
HeadquartersSantiago de Chile
IdeologyConservatism[1]
Liberal conservatism
Economic liberalism
Political positionCentre-right[2][3][4] to right-wing[5][6]
International affiliationInternational Democrat Union
Senate
24 / 50
Chamber of Deputies
53 / 155
Mayors
144 / 345
Website
www.chilevamos.cl

For the 2021 parliamentary election, the coalition was renamed Chile Podemos Más (stylized Chile Podemos , Spanish for "Chile we can (do) more").[8]

History

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On August 2, 2014, during the National Council of National Renewal in Santiago, the party chairman Cristián Monckeberg called his group together with the UDI and then political movement Evópoli to refound the Alliance under the name Coalition for Freedom. Negotiations were also held with the Independent Regionalist Party so that it would join the coalition, which concluded in December 2014 with the creation of a new coalition agreed to contest the municipal elections of 2016, and the presidential, parliamentary and regional councilors elections of 2017.

The new coalition was made official on January 29, 2015, and the process of finding a name for the new referent began.

In August 2015, the four member parties agreed to submit two lists for the election of councilors in 2016: one consisting of RN and UDI, and the other composed of the PRI and Evópoli. The same month, the name "Levantemos" ("Let's get up") emerged as the name that generated greater consensus within the coalition as its mark. However, the name was challenged by the NGO Desafío Levantemos Chile, which objected to similarities with its own name and logo. The opposition bloc responded that the name of the coalition was not yet formalized and that "Levantemos" was only one of the options to consider. The name "Chile Vamos" was decided on 4 October 2015.[9]

Following the election of Sebastián Sichel as the coalition's candidate during the 2021 presidential primaries, Chile Vamos has been considering changing the name of the coalition, with most suggestions revolving around Sichel's campaign slogan "Se puede" (It is possible).[10] On August 20, 2021, the name of the coalition was officially changed to "Chile Podemos Más" ("Chile can do more").[11]

Frictions

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The impact of the 2019-20 Chilean protests and the management of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a series of differences and frictions between the different parties of Chile Vamos.

In late 2019, UDI froze for a few months their membership with the coalition because of major disagreements with some policies of their fellow parties.[12]

Vamos por Chile

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For the 2021 Constitutional Convention election, Chile Vamos and the Republican Party agreed to participate in a joint list called Vamos por Chile (Spanish for "Let's go for Chile") as a way to ensure the combined list could secure the third of seats needed in the Constitutional Convention to veto proposals to be included in the new Constitution of Chile.

The single list, however, had the worst electoral result for any right-wing alliance since the reestablishment of democracy in Chile. Vamos por Chile got 20% of the votes and only 37 of the 155 seats in the Convention.[13][14][15]

Composition

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Party Spanish Leader
  Independent Democratic Union Unión Demócrata Independiente Hernán Larraín
  National Renewal Renovacion Nacional Cristián Monckeberg
  Political Evolution Evolución Política Felipe Kast
  Democratic Independent Regionalist Party Partido Regionalista Independiente Demócrata Alejandra Bravo

Political council

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The coalition has a political council with 47 members: 16 independents, 10 from National Renewal, 10 from the Independent Democratic Union, 6 from Political Evolution and 5 from the Independent Regionalist Party.[16][17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Con Sebastián Piñera como claro favorito, la campaña electoral de Chile entra en una semana decisiva". Clarín. November 12, 2017.
  2. ^ "What the victory of centre-right Sebastián Piñera in Chile's presidential election means". The Economist. 19 December 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2020. Sebastián Piñera of the centre-right Chile Vamos (Let's Go Chile) coalition trounced his centre-left rival, Alejandro Guillier, a senator and former television anchorman, by 55% to 45%.
  3. ^ Echenique, Martín (June 30, 2017). "Elecciones primarias en Chile para definir los candidatos a la presidencia". Clarín.
  4. ^ Sebastián Rodríguez; et al. (2018). Gabriele Meiselwitz (ed.). Forecasting the Chilean Electoral Year: Using Twitter to Predict the Presidential Elections of 2017. Vol. 2. Springer. p. 301. ISBN 9783319914855. Two political coalitions participated in the primary elections: "Chile Vamos" (Right-wing coalition) and "Frente Amplio" (Left-wing coalition). {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ^ "Profile: Chile's President Sebastian Piñera". BBC. 18 December 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2020. The conservative billionaire, who represents the right-wing Chile Vamos coalition, was previously president between 2010 and 2014.
  6. ^ Noticias, C. H. V. "Elección de constituyentes: Mira acá cuáles son la posiciones ideológicas de las 70 listas". CHV Noticias.
  7. ^ "UDI, RN, PRI y Evópoli firman acuerdo para la creación de una nueva coalición política". La Tercera. 29 January 2015. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  8. ^ Garrido, Mónica (2021-08-20). ""Chile Podemos ": El nombre de pacto parlamentario con el que Chile Vamos busca reinventarse". La Tercera. Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  9. ^ ""Chile Vamos" es el nombre de consenso en la Coalición de centro-derecha". 4 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Chile Vamos analiza cambiar el nombre de su pacto parlamentario". Cooperativa.cl.
  11. ^ ""Chile podemos más" el nuevo pacto parlamentario encabezado por Sebastián Sichel". pauta.
  12. ^ Blume, Florencia (December 20, 2019). "La UDI y Chile Vamos". La Tercera (in Spanish). Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  13. ^ "Chile's govt in shock loss as voters pick independents to draft constitution". Reuters. 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  14. ^ Montes, Rocío (2021-05-16). "Los chilenos castigan a los partidos políticos en sus elecciones constituyentes". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  15. ^ "Chile chooses independents to draft new constitution". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  16. ^ Unión Demócrata Independiente (December 2015). "Orgánica "Chile Vamos"". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  17. ^ "UDI incorpora a Kast, Bellolio, y a ex timoneles a consejo político de Chile Vamos". La Tercera. 2015-12-18. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-19.
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