Independent Democrat Union

UDI Logo.

The Independent Democrat Union (Unión Demócrata Independiente or UDI in Spanish) is a Chilean political party founded as movement in 1983 by Jaime Guzmán. Originally it was full right-wing however today it also has center-right factions that may also be the majority of the party. Its main ideology is the guildism (Gremialismo). The party historically has been Conservative, however today members like Jaime Bellolio or even historic members like Joaquín Lavín and Evelyn Matthei have been favorable of showing the rainbow flag in their municipalities, many of them are pro-immigration and a lot doesn't support the Pinochet Regime anymore as they did before. The Piñera Government even has been raising taxes like the digital ones and maintaining the corporate tax from the previous government (27%).

The current party leader is Jacqueline van Rysselberghe.

During the 1988 National Plebiscite about the permanency of Augusto Pinochet in power for 8 more years, the UDI supported the Yes option.

Today the party is part of the officialist center-right coalition called Chile Vamos who supports the President Sebastián Piñera.

Some of the important politicians of the party are:

• Pablo Longueira
• Joaquín Lavín
• Javier Macaya
• Guillermo Ramírez
• Jaime Bellolio
• Hernán Larraín
• Ernesto Silva
• Evelyn Matthei
• Andrés Chadwick
• Jovino Novoa

José Antonio Kast was part of this party for 20 years until 2016.