National Renewal ( es, Renovación Nacional, RN) is a

liberal conservative Liberal conservatism is a political ideology combining conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic issues but also on social and ethical matters, representing a brand of political conservatism strongly influenced by li ...

political party in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It is a member of

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), Nationa ...

, a center-right to

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

coalition.

Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic polit ...

, the former President of Chile, is a member of the party.

History

National Renewal was formed on 29 April 1987 when three rightist organizations – the National Union Movement (''Movimiento de Unión Nacional'', MUN), the National Labour Front (''Frente Nacional del Trabajo'', FNT), and the Independent Democratic Union Movement (''Movimiento'' ''Unión Demócrata Independiente'', UDI) – joined in preparation for the 1988 Plebiscite that would determine the continuity or not of rule of

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

who had been in power since the coup of 1973. The UDI soon broke away to run as a separate party due to its strong support for the plebiscite and a Pinochet candidacy, while the remaining National Renewal party indicated its preference for an open election or a candidate other than Pinochet. However, once Pinochet was proclaimed candidate, the overwhelming majority of National Renewal supported him. The party was founded on 29 April with 351 founding members. In this way, National Renewal was the first political party to form in Chile after the lifting on the ban of political parties that had been established after the coup; by December of that year, 61,167 members, led by

Andrés Allamand Andrés Allamand Zavala (born February 7, 1956), a Chilean politician, is the founder and one of the past leaders of Renovación Nacional. He is of French, and Basque descent. On January 14, 2011 he was named Minister of Defense by president S ...

, had joined. The principal idea that the party proclaimed was to generate an environment of calm during the return of democracy. The party supported UDI candidate

Joaquín Lavín Joaquín José Lavín Infante (born 23 October 1953) is a Chilean politician of the Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party and former mayor of Las Condes, in the northeastern zone of Santiago. Formerly Lavín has also been mayor of Santiago ...

as the sole Alliance candidate in the 1999/2000 presidential elections, who went on to obtain 47.5% of the votes in the first round, but was subsequently defeated in the second round by

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military di ...

. During early 2005, the party initially supported Lavín to again run as the sole candidate of the Alliance in the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

of that year. However, in face of Lavín's declining opinion poll numbers,

announced his candidacy as the National Renewal candidate thus ensuring that the Alliance have two candidates for the election. In the first round on 11 December, Piñera obtained 25.4% of the vote, which was enough to send him to the run-off on 15 January 2006 with

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

. With 46.5% of the vote, Piñera was defeated by Bachelet. In the

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

, also on 11 December 2005, the party won, as part of the

Alliance for Chile The Alliance ( es, Alianza), previously known as Alliance for Chile ( es, Alianza por Chile), was a coalition of centre-right to right-wing Chilean political parties. The Alliance was replaced between 2009 and 2012 by the Coalition for Change. ...

, 20 out of 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and currently holds 7 out of 38 seats in the Senate. In the

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, also on 13 December 2009, the party gains, as part of the

Coalition for Change The Coalition for Change was a presidential and parliamentary electoral coalition that groups the supporters of Sebastián Piñera for the 2009-10 Chilean presidential election. Its predecessor was the Alliance for Chile. The constituent parties ...

, 18 out of 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies of Chile and currently has 8 out of 38 seats in the Senate of Chile. In the 2010 presidential election, Sebastián Piñera was elected

president of Chile The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is re ...

. In 2013,

was presidential precandidate for primary elections, the National Renewal party supported the presidential candidacy of

Evelyn Matthei Evelyn Rose Matthei Fornet (born November 11, 1953) is a Chilean politician who served as Minister of Labor and Social Security under Chilean President Sebastián Piñera until July 2013. She was the Independent Democrat Union Party's nominee fo ...

for the

, that lost in second round with the 37% of the votes. In January 2014, three deputies (Karla Rubilar, Pedro Browne and Joaquín Godoy) and one senator (Lily Pérez) resigned to membership in the party and launched a political movement called "

Amplitude The amplitude of a periodic variable is a measure of its change in a single period (such as time or spatial period). The amplitude of a non-periodic signal is its magnitude compared with a reference value. There are various definitions of amplit ...

" (''Amplitud''), that aimed to be a new political party inside the Alliance. In the internal elections of 2014 the party, the deputy Cristián Monckeberg was elected president of the party. On 2 August 2014, National Renewal debuts its new logo with a blue and red star gradient colours. In August 2014 the deputy

Gaspar Rivas Gaspar Alberto Rivas Sánchez (born 17 May 1978) is a Chilean lawyer and politician. Since March 2022, he has been a deputy of the Republic representing District 6 of the Valparaíso Region as a member of the Party of the People. He was a membe ...

left the party. On 22 November 2014, on a Doctrinal Council held in

Pucón Pucón (Mapudungun: "entrance to the cordillera") is a Chilean city and commune administered by the municipality of Pucón https://www.mipucon.com/ sitio web. It is located in the Province of Cautín, Araucanía Region, 100 km to the south ...

, National Renewal drafted a new statement of principles where they were eliminated references to the coup d'état of 11 September 1973. On 4 October 2015, National Renewal formed with the

Independent Democratic Union The Independent Democratic Union (''Unión Demócrata Independiente'', UDI) is a conservative and right-wing political party in Chile, founded in 1983. Its founder was the lawyer, politician and law professor Jaime Guzmán, a civilian allied with A ...

(UDI),

Political Evolution Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

(Evópoli) and the

Independent Regionalist Party The Independent Regionalist Party ( es, Partido Regionalista Independiente, PRI) was a centrist political party in Chile. The party was regionalist ideologically but had a nationwide presence. It was intended to be an alternative to the dominant ...

(PRI) the new centre-right coalition called

. In July 2016, the Senator of National Renewal

Manuel José Ossandón Manuel José Ossandón Irarrázabal, colloquially "Cote Ossandón", (born Viña del Mar, Región de Valparaíso, 24 August 1962) is an agricultural technician and a senator of Chile for the 8th Senatorial District. He was elected during the parli ...

left the party to form his presidential candidacy in 2017. The National Renewal party, in 2017, accorded support the presidential candidacy of Sebastián Piñera within UDI and PRI to

primary elections Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

of the centre-right coalition Chile Vamos. In the parliamentary elections of 2017, National Renewal obtained 36 seats in the Chamber of Deputies with 17.80% of the votes and 8 seats in the Senate with 20.98% of the votes, thus becoming the most voted party in these elections and displacing its coalition partner, the Independent Democratic Union. On 11 March 2018, for the second government of Sebastián Piñera, National Renewal has 5 Ministers, 8 Undersecretaries, 5 regional Intendants and 24 provincial Governors.

Presidents of National Renewal

National Renewal has nine party presidents in its history: *

Ricardo Rivadeneira Ricardo Rivadeneira Monreal (born 14 June 1929 – 13 June 2011) was a Chilean politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, r ...

(1987) *

Sergio Onofre Jarpa Sergio Onofre Jarpa Reyes (8 March 1921 – 19 April 2020) was a Chilean politician who served as a member of the cabinet during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Biography Coming from a rural background, he studied agriculture a ...

(1987–1990) *

(1990–1997) * Alberto Espina (1997–1999) * Alberto Cardemil (1999–2001) *

(2001–2004) * Sergio Diez (2004–2006) *

Carlos Larraín Carlos Larraín was the President of National Renewal (Renovación Nacional). Biography Carlos Larraín Peña received an LL.B. from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 1967, and an M.A. from the Université catholique de Louvain in ...

(2006–2014) * Cristián Monckeberg (2014–2018) *

Mario Desbordes Mario Guillermo Desbordes Jiménez (born 15 October 1968) is a Chilean politician and former police officer of Carabineros de Chile. He became the Minister of Defense in July 2020. Desbordes previously served as a member of the Chamber of Dep ...

(2018–2021) *

Francisco Chahuán Francisco Javier Chahuán Chahuán (born 20 May 1971) is a Chilean politician and lawyer. He is the current president of the centre-right party Renovación Nacional. Controversies During a constitutional reform project discussion about regul ...

(2021–)

Electoral history

Presidential elections

The following is a list of the presidential candidates supported by the National Renewal. (Information gathered from th
Archive of Chilean Elections
.

Congress election

Party logos

File:Logo del Partido político Renovación Nacional (RN), Chile.svg, Emblem used 1987–2001, 2002–2005, and 2012–2014. File:Renovacion Nacional 2001.png, Emblem used 2001–2002. File:Renovacion Nacional 2005.png, Emblem used 2005–2009. File:Renovacion nacional.svg, Emblem used 2009–2012. File:Renovacion Nacional 2014.svg, Emblem used since 2014.

References

External links

National Renewal

National Renewal Youth
{{Authority control 1987 establishments in Chile Conservative parties in Chile International Democrat Union member parties Liberal conservative parties Neoliberal parties Political parties established in 1987 Political parties in Chile