Radical Party (Chile)

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The Radical Party (Partido Radical) of Chile was a political party formed in 1863 by some dissatisfied liberals. It originally represented the extreme anticlericalist faction of Chilean politics. As this issue became unimportant, the radicals adopted a moderately center-left stance, taking part to Pedro Aguirre Cerda's Popular Front and then to the Democratic Alliance left-wings coalition which succeeded to Cerda's death.

During the presidency of Gabriel Gonzalez Videla (1946-1952) it shifted to the right, and many of its members were virulent anti-Communists. In 1970 it went back to the left-wing, supporting Salvador Allende. The anti-Communist radicals then broke from the party and formed the Radical Democracy Party, which was opposed to Allende and supported Pinochet's 1973 coup. After the return to democracy, the Radical Party was formed again, this time as a center-left group. It obtained very poor electoral results and in 1994 joined with the Social Democrat Party of Chile to form the Social Democrat Radical Party.