National Renewal (, 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 libe ...

political party in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. 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), National Re ...

, a

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

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

coalition.

Sebastián Piñera Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (; 1 December 1949 – 6 February 2024) was a Chilean 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 Party (C ...

, the former President of Chile, was 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 military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

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 Se ...

, 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 Santiag ...

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 p ...

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 President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018, becoming the first woman to hold the presidency. She was re-elected in December ...

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

legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

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

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

Alliance for Chile The Alliance (), previously known as Alliance for Chile (), is a coalition of centre-right to right-wing Chilean political parties. The Alliance was replaced between 2009 and 2012 by the Coalition for Change and since 2015 by Chile Vamos. It ...

, 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 an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

, also on 13 December 2009, the party gains, as part of the Coalition for Change, 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 (), officially the president of the Republic of Chile (), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is responsible for both Government of Chile, government administration and s ...

. In 2013,

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

Evelyn Matthei Evelyn Rose Matthei Fornet (born 11 November 1953) is a Chilean politician, who served as mayor of Providencia, Chile, Providencia, a commune in Santiago, from 2016 to 2024. She previously served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, C ...

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 am ...

" (''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 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. It is located in the Province of Cautín, Araucanía Region, 100 km to the southeast of Temuco and 780 km to ...

, 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, law professor and senator Jaime Guzmán, a civilian a ...

(UDI), Political Evolution (Evópoli) and the Independent Regionalist Party (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 24 August 1962 in Viña del Mar, Región de Valparaíso) is an agricultural technician and a senator of Chile for the 7th Senatorial District, for the period 2022–2030. He ...

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 primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...

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 (1987) * Sergio Onofre Jarpa (1987–1990) *

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

(2001–2004) * Sergio Diez (2004–2006) * Carlos Larraín (2006–2014) * Cristián Monckeberg (2014–2018) *

Mario Desbordes Mario Guillermo Desbordes Jiménez (born 15 October 1968) is a Chilean people, Chilean politician and former police officer of Carabineros de Chile who is the mayor-elect of the Santiago (commune), commune of Santiago. He also was Ministry of De ...

(2018–2021) * Francisco Chahuán (2021–2023) * Rodrigo Galilea (2023–present)

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 Democracy Union member parties Liberal conservative parties Neoliberal parties Political parties established in 1987 Political parties in Chile